My oh my, the Mile

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, June 1, 2014

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2014

 

This past year has been the year of the mile, if you read the national running magazines.  Open runners and masters runners have competed at the mile nationally.  Several masters drove to Pittsburgh last year for the masters mile championship.  This year’s masters mile will be at the Crim in Flint Michigan in August.

But New Jersey runners can run in some very competitive mile races this coming weekend in New Brunswick.  Last year was the first USATF New Jersey road mile championship down the Shore and this year the College Avenue Mile was chosen for the championship.

The College Avenue Mile race is actually a full roster of races designed to put runners of like ability and same age divisions together.  After the Youth mile at 5:00 pm – oh yes, the races begin in the evening on Saturday, June 7^th, begin the championship division races.  The first on the schedule are the Elite miles for men and women.  Men in this race must have a seed time under 4:40 and the women sub 5:40.

Next up is the Emerging Elite Mile, with men with sub 5 minute ability and women sub 6.  After these racers the first masters race will begin at 6:00 pm with the M40- 49 division, then W40-49, M50-59, W50 and up and finishing with M60 and up at 6:50 pm.  At 7:00 will be three open runner races for those who can run sub 7:00 mile, sub 9, and sub 12.

Here’s the wrinkle on these separate mile races.  They are all included in the New Balance Grand Prix and the team grand prix.  The CompuScore team that will be timing the races will integrate the results into one file for the purposes of scoring the event.  If a runner chooses to run in more than one race, his or her time in the first race will be counted and any others will be deleted.

Wrapping up the night of racing will be the Royal Rumble Relay.  The two loop mile race course makes it perfect for a two person relay and perfect as a spectator course for all of the races.

 

The complete rules can be found at the usatfnj webpage in the LDR section.   For more information about the event, that is being organized by the Garden State Track Club can be found at collegeavemile.org  

ROXBURY COMMUNITY BENEFIT 5K MONDAY NIGHT               

The Roxbury Community Benefit 5K is back again tomorrow night, June 2^nd at the Eisenhower Middle School in Succasunna.   This is the third year that the race is using the redesigned course so some age division course records are soft and looking for a speedster.  Not so with the overall winning time.  Last year the race was won by Randolph High School standout Colin Frost in 15:51 and that is now the course record to beat.  Maria Dana of Kenvil also set the course record in 2013 at 18:13.

The Roxbury race is truly geared to the community with the Roxbury High School Graduation group supplying the course marshals, and other groups supplying volunteers.  Families are encouraged through discounts and family team competition.  Club and corporate teams also compete in their divisions.  Registration opens at the school at 5:00 p.m. with the race going off at 7:00 p.m.   More information is at the Morris County Strider website link at roxbury5k.com

ROZHKO WINS D’ELIA PRIZE   

I predicted here in last week’s column that Elena Rozhko of Morristown would win the masters women’s prize money set up in honor of Toshiko D’elia at the Ridgewood Run.  Rozhko, 41, did not run in the 10K, but aced the 5K in 17:50, running at 5:45 pace and scoring 86.23% age grading PLP.  An hour later she ran in the mile where she finished in 5:17.83 winning the masters women’s race.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

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.