USATF NEW JERSEY CHAMPIONSHIPS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED

Written by Madeline Bost
Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, January 1, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

While the rest of the folks are watching football games today, runners will be checking out the racing calendar and beginning to plan their 2012 season. The USATF New Jersey championship line-up was recently posted on the association website and the first thing that is noticed is that there will be a 20 kilometer road race this year and it is first of the season.

Sunday March 11th is the date of this brand new race in Johnson Park in Piscataway [Miles for Music]. A 20K in the park will mean more than one out and back on the park’s paths and roads, but a plus for the runners who may not be ready for that long a race in early spring is that the course will be basically as flat as a flood plain. [course map]

No one should get spoiled by the flat course as the next championship is the Indian Trails 15K on April 1st for open men and women. The Indian Trails is about as hilly as one can find in New Jersey and it is not even in the highlands of New Jersey but down in Middletown, near the Jersey shore.

The Cherry Blossom 10K in Branch Brook Park in Newark has often been a championship and this year it will be the host of the masters women’s race. It will be on tax deadline day, April 15th.

Open men will be running the next weekend at the Stomp the Monster 5K in Marlboro. April will finish up with the Clinton Country Run 15K for masters men and women on the 28th.

After a year away from the line-up the Our House 5 Miler in Summit is back on May 6th as the open men and women’s championship. Open men and women will have to be sharp and ready as the following weekend is the Newport 10,000, also for them. Not to pile on but open women will have the Run for Rachel 5K on the 20th, eight days after Newport on the 12th.

Sunday, June 24th will be the only June championship when the Fitzgerald’s 1928 Lager Run 5K goes off in Glen Ridge, hosting the masters men.

Masters women will have their 5K championship on Sunday September 2nd at the Jimmy D in New Brunswick.

Cross country will be early in 2012 with the New Jersey 5K championship for all divisions takes place on September 8th at Deer Path Park. The Liberty Waterfront half marathon for all divisions will take place on September 23rd in Jersey City.

October will be lean with only the 8k cross country race on the 28th. Giralda Farms will host the masters men 10K on November 11th in Madison and the Ashenfelter 8K on Thanksgiving Day will host the masters men and women. The Grand Finale ten mile championship will take place on December 9th to wrap up the championship season.

GO RUN THIS MORNING 

Do you remember last year’s January 1st? Snow forced the Hangover Run in Tamaques Park in Westfield to reschedule not once but twice. The Hamilton Hangover 5 miler was shortened to a 5K due to snow conditions. So if you are looking for an excuse to not run this morning, you are out of luck.

TWO TEAMS FINISH IN THE NATIONAL MASTERS GRAND PRIX

The Clifton Road Runners M70 team and the Raritan Valley Road Runners M60 team have bragging rights to the USATF national masters team grand prix. The Clifton team made it to four races out of nine to win five hundred dollars and a banner that can be displayed by the winning club.

The Raritan Valley team was locked in a true contest with a club from Ann Arbor Michigan. The team, which includes Roger Price of Randolph and Carl Weaver of Morris Plains, were in the lead up to the final race of the season in Seattle, but were foiled when the team had a poor showing due to various injuries. Ann Arbor finished with 52 points to Raritan Valley’s 51, giving them second place. It is expected that more teams will be attracted to the national series after the kick-off year in 2011.