Sunday, April 17, 2016

Clarke of Morristown second at the Cherry Blossom 10K




Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, April 17, 2016
 



CLARKE, OF MORRISTOWN, SECOND AT THE CHERRY BLOSSOM 10K

Misa Tamura hasn’t let aging up into the W50 division keep her from outstanding performances.  The Ridgewood resident scored as the first masters woman overall at the Cherry Blossom 10K in Branch Brook Park in Newark this past Sunday, and third overall.

The 10K that is timed to take place during the Cherry Blossom Festival with the famous cherry trees in bloom hosted the USATF New Jersey masters women’s championship.

Tamura finished in 39:37, just a minute after the top woman, 35 year old Lauren Jackson of Augusta whose time was 38:38.  Allison Clarke, 32, of Morristown was second in 39:29.  Also in the top ten was Melissa Sacco of Denville who won her W25 age division in 42:02.   Tamura topped the Age Graded tables with her 86.48%.

Twenty W40 teams competed with the Clifton Road Runners taking first, with the Shore Athletic Club in Second and the Garmin team in third.

The Clifton club dominated with firsts in the W50 and the W60 divisions.  Garmin placed second in the W50 with the Raritan Valley Road Runners in third out of fifteen teams.


The Shore team placed second in the W60 with first place in her division, Susan Stirrat of Rockaway, bringing the team in with her 49:17.

The Morris County Striders W70 team featuring first and second place finishers in the W80 division, Shirley Pettijohn and Diane Stone both of Chatham helping out the team, took first.

Michael Belgiovine of Mahwah won the race in 32:12.  Several local men scored in the top three in their age division.  They include Ben Clarke of Morristown who won the M30 division in 35:32, Robert Skorupski of Rockaway second in the M40 division, Gary Rosenberg of Morristown first in the M45 in 36:33, Reno Stirrat of Rockaway first in the M60 division in 38:37, and Charlie Slaughter second in that division in 42:30, and Roger Price of Randolph first in the M65 division in 44:26.  Over a thousand runners finished the race

CLUB GRAND PRIX UPDATED

The Clifton club has established a strong lead in the club grand prix after two championship races.  The Garmin Runners are second with Raritan Valley in third.  The Do Run Runners are in seventh place and the Morris County Striders are in eighth.

The Clinton Country Run 15K on Saturday, April 30, will be a championship race for all divisions. 

BOSTON MARATHON TOMORROW

I checked out the start list for the Boston Marathon for New Jersey runners.    I spotted quite a few names of people from this area but also saw a lot of names I do not recognize.  Some people only run marathons it seems.

The marathoners have been tracking the weather forecasts and as some have quipped, “It will be a great day for the spectators”.  When the elite women start at 9:32 a.m. it will be around 50 degrees.  By 10:00 a.m. when the elite men and the first group starts it will 57 and feel like 64.  It’s that “feels like” that is going to wreck pr’s as from there it will feel like 70 plus.

Coverage starts at 8:30 a.m. on NBC Sports Network.   Best wish to all for a good marathon.

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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, April 10, 2016

Take your pick of local races



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, April 10, 2016


TAKE YOUR PICK OF LOCAL 5K’S

Like Daffodils in the spring, a bevy of 5K’s have popped up for next weekend here in Morris County land.   Back for its 12th year, the Ryan Steidl Memorial MK5K will take place next Saturday, April 16 in Denville.  Organized to support the Morris Knolls high school baseball team, after the tragic death of Ryan Steidl in 2011, the race added his name to the race.

Steidl was struck by a car while training for the 2011 race and died from his injuries six months after the accident.  Part of the focus of the race is road safety in memory of Steidl.

The course is an out and back beginning on Pocono Road and traveling out Old Boonton Road.  It is considered a mostly flat, fast course.

On Sunday, April 17th, runners can enjoy running from a posse of cops in the Cops and Robbers 5K in Morris Township.  The event takes place on the familiar Ginty Field course. 

There is no way that a course record can be established with the course being used so many times, but it would be interesting to know how many runners have kept a log of their racing on the course and if they keep a record of their personal best on it.

For this race there is an unusual incentive.  All the “robbers” will start at 9:00 a.m. and at 9:03 a.m. members of law enforcement will take off after the fleeing “robbers”.   With a three minute head start how fast do you have to go to beat your cop?   Oh, that’s part of the fun too.  Team up with one person in the role of robber and one as a cop.  Can you beat the cop and get away – or can the cop catch you in the 3.1 miles.  The cop needs to run a mile one minute faster than the robber.

By the Way there are several Cops and Robbers races around the country and all loosely organized like the one in Morris Township.  In some the robbers carry a loot bag and in another costumes are encouraged.   I don’t see that for this one though, but I would think no one object if a runner is wearing a mask or some other “robber” clothing.

Registration has been set at $ 20.00 for the inaugural race and it is good up to April 16th. 


Other local races include the KEA Pot of Gold 5K on Sunday April 17 that starts at 9:00 a.m. from Kinnelon High School and the Cross and Crown 5K at the School of St. Elizabeth in Bernardsville also on Saturday, April 17  at  9:00 a.m.

Far from being a 5K, the Rutgers Unite Half Marathon will also be a draw for many local runners.  An expo will take place on Saturday, April 16 on the Rutgers Busch Campus with the half marathon on Sunday April 17, along with an 8K that starts shortly after the half marathon.
In 2015 there were over 2,500 finishers in the half with Michael Dixon of Fanwood first in 1:12:02 and Sarah Rebick of Boulder CO the first woman in 1:26:44.   Over 900 finished the 8K.

The start is at the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center on the Busch Campus in Piscataway with the finish at Seminary Place and College Avenue, at the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick.


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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, April 3, 2016

Cherry Blossom 10K next Sunday



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, April 3, 2016


CHERRY BLOSSOM 10K MASTERS WOMEN

Masters women have their next USATF championship on Sunday, April 10th at the Cherry Blossom 10K in Branch Brook Park in Newark.  It’s a race with an ungainly uphill start that is slightly mitigated by the flowering cherry trees in bloom along the course.

The season opened two weeks ago with the Miles for Music 20K with many masters women eschewing the race probably due to its length.  The 10K is a more doable distance.  There were nine W40 teams at the 20K and four W50.  No W60 or older. 

As noted here last week, the Garmin Women have made a good start with first for the W40 and W50 divisions. 

A really good incentive to run in the Cherry Blossom if you have a shot at first, second, or third in your age division is a fleece jacket. 

NEW JERSEY RUNNERS GET RECOGNITION NATIONALLY

The National Masters News, a monthly newspaper dedicated to masters track and field and masters long distance running hit my mailbox on Friday.  In an article by Paul Carlin of Indiana announcing the results of the 2015 national individual grand prix, some New Jersey names appeared including my own. 

There is a back story that reaches back two dozen years.  In 1992 the USATF association began an individual grand prix.  Maybe a couple of dozen races were in the series that first year.  It took some coaxing to get races to commit to the grand prix and pay a modest fee.  It also took some coaxing to get the New Jersey runners to make it to the required nine races.  On the women’s side, a speedy young woman from Whippany, Kim Keenan saw it as a goal and was an easy winner.

On the men’s side, well, the young fast ones were a little dense and did not make it to all the races.  A speedy, but not so young Pat Cosgrove, then 50 did.  Those young ones took notice the next year and Cosgrove was not going to win again.  In 1993 young and fast Gavin Sloane won the grand prix, as did Keenan again that year.

So how does that tie in to the national grand prix?  Pam Fales of Boonton and I are on the national masters long distance running executive committee.  We convinced the committee to model the national grand prix on the New Jersey series, with some modifications.

For instance the first person in an age division in a national championship is awarded one hundred points, second gets 95, and it goes down by five points to its end.   A minimum of three races must be run with a maximum of the best five races counted.

Some very fast men and women have been competing in the championships and in some age divisions there are several who have run in five and even more races.  It is quite competitive.


However, in my age division only one woman, me, made it to three races in 2014.  I’d like for all the divisions to be as competitive as the few that are.   I have not been training seriously in several years but since I am on the committee and travel to the races I decided to try to use the “Pat Cosgrove incentive” to entice more women in my division to race.  There are several women who can out-run me.  They just needed to get to at least three races.  None did in 2014 nor in 2015.  Thus my name is listed along with some very worthy men and women illustrating the old adage – “you’ve got to be in it to win it”.

Roland Cormier of Jackson won the M75 division.  Reno Stirrat of Rockaway was second in the M60 division as was Przemyslaw Nowicki of Holmdel in the M70 division.   Other New Jersey runners who completed the national grand prix include Susan Stirrat of Rockaway who placed fourth in the W60 division and Roger Price of Randolph, 8th in the M65 division.

CORRECTION:        
The Do Run Runners M60 team placed third in the Miles for Music.  I apologize for overlooking the team in last week’s column.

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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.