Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, May 8, 2016
CHOOSE YOUR DISTANCE -
TAKE YOUR PICK FROM 5K TO MILES, AND MILES AND MILES
As any runner knows, it is easy to find races to run. At the end of this column when space permits
readers are directed to the USATF-NJ website, to Race Forum, CompuScore and
Best Races.
The USATF web calendar features all sanctioned races and is
pretty comprehensive. I took a look and
found some interesting reading there. Well
not exactly a spellbinder, but interesting.
If you wanted to run a 5K in the next week or so there are
plenty of them around, more than likely less than an hour away from your
door. On Sunday, the 15th is
a 5K in Basking Ridge, using the same course as the “Are you faster than a
Ridge runner?”
If you were looking for a bit more of a challenge, there is
the Lake Mohawk 8 mile challenge on Saturday the 14th in
Sparta. Or choose to run with the girls
in the Girl’s on the Run 5K at the same location.
OK, 8 miles is not challenge enough, then how about the Super
Hero Half marathon? That is on Sunday
the 15th at the Ginty Field, Morris Township staging location. Dress as a super hero and you may win a prize
for your costume.
Not enough distance in a half marathon? Well, head up to the Sussex County
Fairgrounds in Augusta and you can run your toenails off at the 3 days at the
fair. Start on Thursday, May 12th
and see how many one mile laps you can do in 72 hours. Or start on Friday morning and go for 48
hours. Start on Saturday and run for 24
hours. See how much fun this is?
A little too challenging? Well run for 12 hours, or just
six. On the other hand try for the 50K
title. Or maybe, just maybe you want a
real challenge. How about four back to
back full marathons.
No way! You say?
Well, yes, there are runners who do these kinds of things. And they are not just a handful. A lot of people are doing ultras these
days. In 2015 Darren Worts of Chatham,
who was featured here in May 2009 did those four marathons, and he wasn’t the
only one, but the best at it. He didn’t
really slow down until the fourth marathon.
His times were 3:25:11, 3:28:00, 3:29:16 and then 4:20:22.
If you go to the NJtrail series website you might be amazed,
as I was, to see so many people who competed in 2015. Now, in 2016, the 50K that starts on
Saturday, and the 48 and 24 hour races have been designated as New Jersey
championships.
Last weekend a similar lineup of races was held at Bear
Mountain; the North Face Endurance Challenge.
In the full marathon, and we are talking trail racing now, were 329
finishers, in the 50K were 466, the marathon had 204 and the half marathon a
whopping 722. I scanned the results and
although there was a good sprinkling of New Jersey runners, almost no names
rang a bell. Two that did were Luke Falk
of Rockaway who finished the half marathon in 2:26:43 and Peter Tummey, also of
Rockaway who finished the half in 2:26:28.
LOCALS SHINED AT CLINTON COUNTRY RUN
Roberta Groner of Randolph won the women’s race in the
Clinton Country Run 15K last weekend. She
finished tenth overall in 56:02. Allie
Clark of Morristown was second woman in 59:31.
Clark’s husband Ben placed third overall
in 53:45 while Karl O’Reilly, also of Morristown was second in 52:47. Atilla Sabahoglu of Somerset won the race in 52:06.
Next up for USATF runners is the Newport 10,000 this
Saturday in Jersey City.
##
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment