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.
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.
##
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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