Sunday, December 27, 2015

Randolph's Groner wins the New Balance Grand Prix series



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 27, 2015



RANDOLPH’S GRONER WINS THE NEW BALANCE GRAND PRIX SERIES

Roberta Groner, 37, of Randolph has won the New Balance long distance running grand prix only three points shy of a perfect score of 5,700.   Misa Tamura of Ridgewood placed second and Mary Christian of Flanders was third.

The surprise winner on the men’s side is Kyle Price of Milltown who pulled off a jump from 46th place on November 12 to first by placing 10th at the Ashenfelter 8K on Thanksgiving morning and winning the Red Cross 5K on the last possible day in December.   Those two races put him ahead of Atilla Sabahoglu of Somerset and Mathew Slocum of Montclair.

Plenty of Morris area runners did well in the age divisions in the grand prix including Gary Leaman of Hardwick who finished in fourth place overall and won the M55 division.  Gary Rosenberg of Morristown was only a dozen points behind Leaman and won the M45 division.

Mark Minervina of Stanhope placed second in the under 35 division and Michael Azarez of Parsippany took first in the M35 division.

Robert Skorupski of Rockaway won the M40 division, John Sabatino placed second in the M45 division after Rosenberg, and Scott Isgett of Rockaway was third.

David McLaughlin of Rockaway placed third in the M50 division and Beau Atwater took second in the M55 division after Leaman.  Charlie Slaughter of Parsippany won the M60 division with Peter Auteri of Pompton Lakes second and Reno Stirrat of Rockaway third.

In the M65 division Bill Bosmann of Rockaway took first and Carl Weaver of Morris Plains was third.  George Studzinski of Kinnelon placed second in the M80 division.

Karen Auteri of Hackettstown won the women under 35 division with Kate Polles of Morristown in second.  Iris Aceituno of Mine Hill was second in the W35 division as was Susan Kinsella of Millington in the W50 division. 

Nora Cary of Morristown who was featured here earlier this month won the W60 division.  Shirley Pettijohn of Chatham and Diane Stone also of Chatham went one – two in the W80 division.  Patricia Tummey of Randolph placed first in the W85 division.

LOCALS DID WELL IN THE SUB SET GRAND PRIXS

Laura Delea of Sparta was the overall winner of the Mini One grand prix that features the shorter distances.  Youssef Rochdi of Rockaway was the male winner.

John Doyle of East Hanover was first in the M55 division of Mini One and Betty Langenkamp of Wharton won her W65 division.  Bill Trengove, also of Wharton was third in the M60 division, Arch Seamans of Rockaway was first in the M80 division and Paul Williams of Gillette was second in the M40 of Mini One.

Courtney Clark of Millington was second in both Mini One and Mini Two in the W40 division.  Gretchen Atwater of Bernardsville placed second in the W55 division and   Derek Shendell of Chatham placed second in the M40 division of Mini Two.  


Bruce Langenkamp of Wharton was first in the Mini Two and second in the cross country series in the M65 division.  Another multiple winner was Ed Neighbour of Sparta who placed second in Mini Two, first in Mini Three and second in the cross country series in the M50 division.

Roseann Svihra of Gillette was first in the Mini Three series in the W65 division, and Mark Washburne of Mendham was second in both Mini Two and Three in the M55 division.


CROSS COUNTRY GRAND PRIX
Notable local performances were registered in the cross country grand prix led in by Robert Skorupski of Rockaway who won the series, followed by Reno Stirrat also of Rockaway in second place.

Brian Davenport of Lake Hopatcong placed first in the M50 division    Charlie Castiglioni of Lake Hopatcong took third in the M55 division and Charlie Slaughter of Parsippany was second.  Roger Price of Randolph won the M65 division Arch Seamans of Rockaway lead in the M80 division.

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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.






Sunday, December 20, 2015

New Jersey runners did well at club cross country meet



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 20, 2015




NEW JERSEY RUNNERS DID WELL AT CLUB CROSS COUNTRY MEET

In 2014 the USATF club cross country championship meet was held at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.   New Jersey runners and clubs turned out in droves helping to make the meet the highest attended meet in the history of the event.

That title remains although the attendance at the meet in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco came close.  Teams from up and down the coast from Seattle to San Diego filled the fields.   

New Jersey was well represented, thanks for the most part to the Adidas Garden State Track Club.   The clubs open men’s A team placed seventh out of 59 teams – huge move up for the club from 19th in 2014.

Youssef Rochdi of Rockaway was a scoring member of the team.  Not only did the club have an A team, they had a B, C, and D team that competed in the second open men’s race.   The field had reached too large a size so it was split into an A race, that had 411 finishers, and a B race with 137 finishers.  The club’s B team placed first in that race.

The women’s race was won by former New Jersey standout Amy Van Alstine who now competes for the HOKA, ONE, ONE team.  The AGSTC women’s A team finished 15th out of 41 teams.

In the masters races the Shore Athletic Club fielded a W40 team and a M70 team.   Susan Stirrat of Rockaway was on the Shore’s W40 team and finished 17th in the W60 division.   Husband Reno, running without a team, finished in fourth place in his M60 division.  Finishing in the medals was the Shore team’s Przemyslaw Nowicki who took third in his M70 division and Ralph Garfield who took second in the M80 division.  The team placed third in the race and has sewn up first place in the Team Grand Prix.

JOIN USATF NOW

Now’s the time to renew your membership in USATF or if you have never joined, now’s the time to do so.  Memberships need to be renewed by January 1st if you are planning to run in a January first race that is in the New Balance grand prix. 

Membership makes sense for New Jersey runners although the benefits are hard to find.  The biggest benefit is to secure a discount when pre-registering in a grand prix race.  That discount can range from two dollars to five, depending on the registration fee.

At thirty dollars for membership, you can reap the benefit with just a handful of races.  Less well known and less well publicized are the discounts on hotels, car rentals, and even airline fares.   For some reason the national website has hidden these discounts and the participating companies in the members only link.  I am going to spill the beans here.

 For instance, when traveling to a city for a USATF event, both Delta and United airlines offer a 10% discount.

Choice Hotel member hotels, which include a dozen or so hotels, offer a minimum 15% discount when pre-registering.  The Hilton brands hotels also offer a 15% discount.  Subject to availability Best Western also offers a discount.

Enterprise has a 10% discount on car rentals and National goes a bit further with up to 20% off.

I will bet that most current members of USATF did not know about all these discounts.  I confess that I did not until researching for this article.

To sign up for membership in USATF go to the national website www.usatf.org   and clink on the link for “Products/Services” and then scroll down to “individual memberships”.  You can sign up for one year or several. 

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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.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Super Santa in Morris Township



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 13, 2015


SUPER SANTA 5K IN MORRIS TOWNSHIP NEXT SATURDAY

Have some fun next Saturday, December 19th in Morris Township running a 5K with a whole herd of Santas.  Yes, Super Santa is upon us.  

Brought to you by the same folks that gave you Super Halloween Half Marathon in October, the Pre-Game four miler in February, the Saint Patty’s 5K in March and the Super Hero Half Marathon in May.   As their titles say, most are themed races and on the 19th, Morris Township kids won’t believe their eyes as the running Santas streak down the road.

“We enjoy this race,” said Heather McDermott, one of two partners in Super Hero races.  “Almost every one dresses up, even the speedsters.”

Speedster Michael Founder of Princeton finished the race first in 16:02 dressed as an elf, according to McDermott.


“We get Grinch’s, snowmen, snow women, reindeer, and of course lots of Santas,” she said.  “We give out prizes for the best costumes.”

The race is a true community event, with the Morris Township fire department opening their garage for the post-run festivities.  On a chilly day that has to be a draw for the runners.

“We really appreciate that!”  she said.  “The American Red Cross is the official charity group. They give us a lot of great volunteers and are led by local marathoner Paul Sullivan.”

For the first time for the race all finishers will receive a Super Santa finisher medal.

Also for the first time, a new photography service will make runner’s photos available almost immediately after the race and can be easily shared on social media.

Race day registration and packet pickup will take place at the Morris Township Fire Department at 2 Dwyer Lane, next to Ginty Field.
Get a head start and pick up your race packet at the Morristown Running Company on South Street from December 16th-18th.

HE DID WHAT?

At a race like the Ashenfelter 8Kthat took place in Glen Ridge on Thanksgiving morning with really large number of runners you will see a lot of strange things.  Maybe none as strange as was reported by Bruce Langenkamp of Wharton.

Langenkamp is highly competitive in his M65 division so was close to the front line for the start.  Like other competitive runners he knew he needed to be well placed so as to avoid the crush of runners that would be surging forward at the start.  Langenkamp had notice three men who appeared to be friends who would be racing together.

“When the gun went off, we all started, but it was only about fifty yards later, one of those three stopped and turned around,” said Langenkamp.  “He started going back towards the starting line into the middle of the crowd!”

That move caused a chain reaction with a runner from the Raritan Valley club stopping to avoid the reverse order runner, causing Langenkamp to hit the brakes too.

“We both side-stepped the idiot and got back into running,” said Langenkamp. 

Why did the runner reverse course and head back into a crowd of over three thousand runners? 
Langenkamp got his answer a bit further in the race.

“The idiot came running past me and caught up to his buddies,” he said.  “He proudly told them that he had gotten his cell phone back after apparently dropping it at the start.”

We’ve all read of crazy things people have done to retrieve a phone, but this may be the first time a runner pulled a U-turn into a stampede to find his phone. 

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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.


Sunday, December 6, 2015

Getting faster with age - Nora Cary



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 06, 2015

 

GETTING FASTER WITH AGE

Like wine, Nora Cary keeps getting better with age.  Cary who lives in Morristown was a fast 59 year old in 2014 but she is burning up the roads in 2015.  Despite her protestations that it is maybe the age grading that is enhancing her performances, she is one fast woman.

To put her protestations to rest – in 2015 she broke 21 minutes for a 5K at the Fitzgerald’s Lager Run, something she had not done in the several years of racing.  At the President’s Cup Night Race in Millburn at age 57 she was timed in 21:03 and at the Jimmy D 5K in New Brunswick she was 21 flat.  But 20:39 at the Lager run at age 60?  That’s what I call getting faster.  In fact that may have been her highest PLP age graded performance at 89.66%.

At most of her races this season she has been at the top of the age grading.  For instance she hit 88.33% this year at the Giralda Farms 10K for her 44:01.  It is one of her favorite races and runs it every year.

“I really like the race and it is close to where I live,” she said.

The 10K may be a favorite race, but her favorite distance is the half marathon.  She posted a 1:38:43 at the Newport half in Jersey City in September.

So where did this speedy girl come from?  Well she has been running for most of her life, first as Nora Gibbons, and after meeting her future husband at the Hash House Harriers in Summit and taking his name, as Nora Cary.  Her husband Dave was once an ultra runner but now is on the sidelines due to knee issues.  He is an enthusiastic supporter of his wife and their three kids who all ran track and cross country with a lot of success for Morristown High School.  Alex graduated in 2013 and went on to run for two years at the College of New Jersey, Brian and Emma graduated this past June.

“They were fortunate because Morristown High School has a great program and great coaching.” Cary said.  “We really enjoyed watching them compete in High School and continue to enjoy college running.”

Emma Cary now runs at Sacred Heart University which prompted Nora to run at the national masters 5km cross country meet in nearby Saratoga this past October.   Up against the best W60 women in the country Cary placed third and took home a bronze.


“Once my kids were older and I had more time I began running with a group and racing more,” she said.


Cary met Mark Washburne at one of the cross country races that are held at Central Park – Greystone in Morris Plains in 2010.  Soon she was running with the Do Run Runners and is a valuable team member – on the W50 team.

“That has definitely made it more enjoyable,” said Cary.

Cary gets in most of her mileage which she says is just over 30 miles per week on the weekends. 

Saturday’s she runs with the Do Run group from Freedom Park in Randolph.  When she is not racing on a Sunday morning she joins with a small group of runners known casually as the Turtle Runners. 

 “It is an informal group with no USATF affiliation but a lot of talent,” she said.  “They give me a good workout.”

Cary relies on her races and her group runs to get fit to race.  “I’ve never been on a track,” she said.  “I wouldn’t know what to do.”

On November 22nd, Cary and her fellow Turtle runners ran the Philadelphia marathon or half marathon to support Massoud Messkoub of Morris Township who was running - his 70th marathon on his 70th birthday.

Messkoub finished his marathon in 5:00:25 (chip time was 4:57:46). Cary finished the half marathon in 1:39:11 (chip time was 1:38:05). 

Cary seems to be able to handle any distance from 5K to a marathon.  The 2015 racing season will start in March in New Jersey.  How much faster will she get before the aging factor kicks in?  Only time will tell.

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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.