Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris
County, New Jersey
On Sunday, April 13 2014
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2014
MORRIS COUNTY RUNNERS WIN AT CHERRY BLOSSOM
Morris County runners were well represented in the Cherry
Blossom 10K this past Sunday at Branch Brook Park in Newark. Elena Rozhko not only won the masters women
division, but won the women’s race outright with her time of 37:44. Rozhko lives in Morristown and carried her Garmin
teammates to victory in the W40 team division.
On the men’s side Youssef Rochdi of Morris Plains out ran
Justin Scheid of Sparta, 32:11 to 32:21.
Ben Clarke of Morristown finished third in 33:13. Gary Rosenberg, also of Morristown was eighth
overall and first master to cross the line in 35:59.
Susan Bessin of Madison was the second scoring woman on the
Garmin W40 team, finishing in 42:53. The
North Jersey Masters W40 team was second and the Do Run Runners were second
with Nora Cary of Morristown heading up the team.
Cary was also the fastest woman on her winning W50 team,
finishing in 44:04. Also scoring for the
team was Joyce Morgan of Boonton who finished in 44:55 and Diane Naughton of
Mendham whose time was 49:03.
Jane Parks of Morristown headed up the Rose City Runners
team that won the W60 division. Parks
finished in 45:09 and placed second in the age grading . Parks, 61, and Cary, 59, often trade places
in the age grading and this time Cary scored below Parks. Cary achieved an 87.72% PLP and Parks
88.04% PLP. Winning first place prize
money in that division was Erika Campbell, 64, of Ridgewood, who scored 92.28% PLP
for her 45:01 finishing time.
ANNUAL REMINDER TO RUN SAFE
In the age of distracted driving it is beyond understanding
that people tie up their sneakers and go out for a run with their back to
traffic. I have a ring side view of
runners with my office on the second floor of my house and a large corner
window. Now that the West Morris
Greenway has become so well known and popular with Roxbury and Randolph runners
I see more and more runners coming down Pleasant Hill Road to access the off
road trails. Pleasant Hill Road has only
a narrow shoulder or no shoulder at all.
Yet I see people with their heads down, maybe even with ear buds blocking
the sounds of oncoming traffic, trustingly running with their backs to traffic.
Saturday’s race in Denville was renamed the Ryan Steidl
Memorial race because Steidl lost his battle for life after being struck from behind while running on the right
side of the road. We have had other
cases of people being hit from behind.
William Wright was possibly the most well know victim. Back in 1997 Wright was running with his back
to traffic on Route Ten in Randolph. In the
pre-dawn light Wright was wearing reflective gear and lights, but the driver
that struck him was distracted by a tail-gaiting truck. With his attention in his rear view mirror, he
moved to the shoulder to let the truck pass and did not see Wright who he
struck and killed.
I am fortunate now that I can run off road but when I was
running more often on the roads around my Ironia home I recall several times
when I had to jump sideways out of the road so as to be missed by an oncoming
car. Yes, those cars might have given me
a wide berth, but what if the drivers were blinded by the sun, distracted by
the radio, kids or pets. No, I am safe
because I was facing them and could see when I needed to make that jump off the
road and out of danger.
##
A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and
biathlon events.
Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.
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