Sunday, August 28, 2016

Midland Avenue Mile was well hydrated



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, August 28, 2016



MIDLAND MILE WAS WELL HYDRATED


Let’s see.  Perfect conditions for a road mile race.   Cool, slight breeze, low humidity.  That should about do it. 

I guess no one gave the weather gods the order for last Sunday.  Yes, it was cool.  I’m not sure about the breeze.  But the Midland Avenue Mile struck out on the humidity part.

It had been threatening to rain all day and early weather reports for New Jersey were for dangerous lightning after five.  Five o’clock was the time of the first of several mile races in Montclair and that weather report was not reassuring.  But the weather gods held back the lightning and all they sent was the rain.

After the “civilian” race was completed, the first of the USATF – New Jersey races began with the W50 and older heat.  Misa Tamura, 50, of Ridgewood took off and lead from the start according to others in the race.  She finished in 5:41.12 for first in her division and first in the race.

Nora Cary of Morristown was the first W60 division woman, finishing in seventh overall in the race in 6:30.07 and age grading at 88.89%, second only to Erika Campbell, 67, of Ridgewood who finished in 6:40.9, and whose age graded Performance Level Percentage was 95.11%.

The next race, the W40 was won by Jennifer St. Jean of Darien CT in 5:13.11.  Anne Balfour of Morristown was second in 6:11.92 but was first New Jersey USATF member.

With rain continuing to fall the next race was for all men 60 and older, and to no surprise Reno Stirrat of Rockaway appeared first heading for the finish in 5:41.2.  Stirrat’s Shore Athletic Club team made almost a clean sweep with the next three men out of four scoring for the team.

Joining the “if you only ran a little faster” club was the Raritan Valley Road Runners, bumped to third place in the M60 division by the Fleet Feet team whose combined time was 20:55.91 compared to the RVRR time of 20:56.12.  Michael Barry of Succasunna was second man on the Fleet Feet team and Roger Price of Randolph led in the RVRR team.

Atilla Sabahoglu of Somerset had an easy win in the open men’s division, finishing in 4:39.33 ahead of 78 other men in the race. 
 
Roberta Groner of Randolph also had an easy win, cruising across the finish line in 5:05.05 ahead of 64 other women in the race. 

The Morris area Garmin club had a field day.  Their M40 and their open men’s team won both of those divisions as did their W40 and open women’s team.

The Morris County Striders women’s team did well with a third in the W50 and fourth in W60 while their W70 and W80 teams won their division.

CROSS COUNTRY THIS MORNING

Many runners will be heading for Thompson Park in Monroe this morning for the USATF-NJ cross country championship 5kilometer cross country race.  If you are itching for a race closer to home this coming week I am not seeing many.  There is a 5K in Brookdale Park in Bloomfield on Saturday, September 3rd, and a 5K in Sparta on Monday, September 5th.  The race will run around Lake Mohawk with a start at 8:30 a.m.

MIDLAND SCHOOL
Oh how quickly we forget.  Well, how quickly I forgot.  The Midland Run 15K that I referenced in last Sunday’s column was named for the Midland School that benefited from the two races, 15K and 5K, that was run in May at Moorland Farms in Bedminster.  Thanks to Barbara Rushman, club historian for the Rose City running club for her gentle reminder.

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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, August 21, 2016

August is a month for first for USATF - NJ runners



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, August 21, 2016



AUGUST IS A MONTH FOR FIRST FOR USATF NJ RUNNERS

This evening runners will be competing in mile races in Montclair.  This is not the first year for mile races in the USATF-NJ New Balance grand prix schedule, but it is the first for the Midland Mile.

Although the name evokes nostalgia for the Midland Run, this Midland race is only one mile while the old Midland Run was a tough 9.3 miles.  I don’t think that I know why the 15K was named Midland, but this Midland is so named because the course begins and ends on Midland Avenue.  As described on the race website, the race is a point to point with no turns and just a slight upgrade.   That it is newly paved and tree lined should make up for that slight upgrade.


Looking at the pre-registration list it is clear there will be a good turnout.  Late breaking news has the number of runners now over 400.  These are not one mile fun runs, but serious competitions. 

In 2015 when the mile races were the College Avenue Mile in New Brunswick, the fastest time was 4:21.76 run by Joshua Neyhart of Port Reading and the fastest woman was Ester Erb of Lawrenceville who finished in 5:02.74.  Masters racers in 2015 included Reno Stirrat who won the M60 division in 5:28.16, Gary Rosenberg of Morristown who placed fourth in the M40 division in 4:55.15, and Beau Atwater of Bernardsville who won the M55 division in 5:17.84 and fourth man over age fifty.  All three of the men will be running tonight.

The first heat, the Family Mile, will go off at 5:00 p.m., followed by the Public Service division, and then the first USATF division, the M60 and up that will start at 5:30 p.m.   Each heat will begin approximately ten minutes apart. 

Post race refreshments include hot dogs and beer, always welcome after a summer night race.

CROSS COUNTRY NEXT SUNDAY AT THOMPSON PARK

The next “first” is the cross country 5 kilometer race at Thompson Park in Monroe Township.  To my knowledge this is the first time, at least in recent history, that the USATF NJ 5 kilometer has been run in this park.  A look at the course map, which is available on the USATF NJ webpage, shows an opening mile loop that almost returns to the start before heading out for a larger loop for the next 2 miles.  Of course a map does not illustrate terrain.  Most runners from this area will be on it for the first time so need to be prepared for anything – including hills.

Pre-registration for the cross country race ends on Tuesday, August 23.

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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.