Sunday, May 31, 2015

Run 5K and then run a mile - in less than a week




Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, May 31, 2015
 

RUN 5K AND THEN RUN A MILE           - IN LESS THAN A WEEK

A lot of fun events are coming up this week, beginning tomorrow, Monday, June 1st.  One of several weeknight races in the summer, the Roxbury Community Benefit 5K in Succasunna is the first Monday night race in the area.  The race was originally organized by the Merry Heart Health Care Center and the center is a primary sponsor of the race, but now organized by the Morris County Striders.

The focus is on the family and the community with runners from all the towns of Roxbury and surrounding towns like Randolph, Flanders and Rockaway and Denville.  The course was changed in 2012 which makes for an opportunity for course records.

In 2012 James Lothian, of Morristown, won in 17:20 with Diana D’Achille of Denville the women’s winner in 18:46.  Colin Frost of Randolph won the 2013 race in 15:51 and Maria Dana of Kenvil was the women’s winner in 18:13.  In 2014 Dana came back and lowered her time to 18:01 to establish the women’s course record and Youssef Rochdi of Rockaway set the men’s course record of 15:19.  Those might be a high bar to clear, but some of the masters divisions could still be a target.

COLLEGE AVENUE MILE – NOT A FUN RUN

The College Avenue Mile races in New Brunswick, this Saturday, June 6, began three years ago, but it wasn’t until 2014 that it was a USATF New Jersey championship event.  That designation brought a whole new set of milers, namely masters runners who were competing for their teams, and with that brought a nearly full set of age division records.

Although some very fast Morris area men are in the top five, it is the Morris area women who have topped their divisions.  Maria Dana of Kenvil in the W35 finished in 5:10 in 2012; Elena Rozhko of Morristown has the W40 record of 5:15.  Susan Bessin of Madison holds the W45 record of 5:47 and Mary Christian of Flanders has the W50 record of 6:00.  Nora Cary of Morristown has the W55 record of 6:24 and Jane Parks also of Morristown has the W60 record of 6:49.

On the men’s side, Roger Price of Randolph has two age division records.  In 2012 he finished in 5:41 for the M60 record and in 2014 he set the M65 record of 5:55.  Ed Smith of Mountain Lakes finished in 6:20 setting the M70 record.  The overall fastest time was run by Chris Johnson of New Providence who finished in 4:20 in 2014.  Cheyenne Ogletree of Port Reading has the fastest women’s time of 5:01, also set in 2014.

Weather and all else permitting for good racing, it will be interesting to see if any of those records fall.  The first race is a Youth race at 5:00 pm, followed by the first of several open division races.  The M40 starts off the masters races at 5:50 pm.   What has been reported as the most fun to watch or run is the relay at 7:20 pm. 

RIDGEWOOD RUN

The Ridgewood Run 10K was won by Mike Fisher of Brookline MA in a relatively slow time of 32:17 this past Monday.  Much more impressive was the performances of the masters athletes in whose division the race was a championship.  Eight out of the top eleven men were forty or older.  In what had to have been a satisfying finish for the 44 year old Frieder twins, Elliott of Montville and Jonathan of Hartsdale, NY was their third and fourth place finishes in 34:13 and 34:14 respectively. 

Also noteworthy was fifty two year old Mark Zamek of Allentown PA who finished in 35:21.  Zamek’s time was age graded at 86.41% just back a spot from Beau Atwater, 57, of Bernardsville who finished in 36:50 for tops in the age grading at 86.65%.   Roberta Groner of Randolph was the top woman to finish and she wasn’t that far back.  Groner finished in 35:53 in 12th place overall.

Gary Rosenberg led his M40 Garmin team to second place, finishing in 35:09.  Also scoring on the team was Zamek, John Sabatino of Morris Plains in 37:56 and Kevin Higgins of Randolph in 38:48.  The Garmin M50 team also placed second with Zamek and Higgins the top two on the team.

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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.

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