SYRACUSE FESTIVAL OF RACES DREW NEW JERSEY MASTERS RUNNERS AND TEAMS

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, October 7, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

For five years the Syracuse Festival of Races 5K has been the national USATF masters 5K championship.  Participation by New Jersey runners was sparse the first year or two but they made up for it in a big way last Sunday for this year’s race.

Five New Jersey teams competed and the team with the biggest payoff was the Clifton Road Runners whose M70 team won that division and whose B team took fourth.

The Clifton club is now in the lead in the team grand prix in that division and their B team is in third, and only off second by one point.  Two more races are to be run this season and the club should get to at least one of them.  The potential spoiler is the Shore Athletic Club that placed second in the division at the race.  They cannot pass Clifton but they could keep the B team from placing in the top three.  Shore would have to run in both races to do that.

Expectations were high for Ed Smith of Mountain Lakes who aged up to that division this year and his Shore AC team was not disappointed.  Smith won the division with a time of 22:01.  Jim Leitz of Bayonne placed third in 23:19.  New Jersey dominated the division with seven of the 14 runners who finished.

Shore’s M60 team placed third and the Raritan Valley Road Runner’s were sixth.  Despite the Raritan Valley name, two of their men are from this area.  Roger Price of Randolph finished in 19:00 for seventh and Carl Weaver of Morris Plains finished in 22:05.  Also in that division was Steve Austin of Long Valley, a Morris County Strider who finished in 22:41.

The Striders were represented by USATF NJ President Edward Neighbour of Sparta, who finished in 22:24 in the M45 division.  Also in the M45 division was Peter Tummey of Rockaway who finished in 20:20.

Cande Olsen of Chatham had a good race, placing third in the W60 division with a time of 24:53.  In 2010 Olsen won the division with a 24:13.

SHADES OF DEATH ON SUNDAY

At more than a week out from the second annual Shades of Death Half Marathon in Allamuchy the entries have already gone one hundred over the number of finishers the first year.  Runners have been meeting at the Allamuchy Township School for the past few Saturdays to run the course.  Since the course is a double loop it has been easy to run just half of the half or all of it on a training run.  Next Sunday, October 13th, they will be running the real thing.

Thirty or more of the runners will be partnering up to do the relay, since that double loop makes for a perfect relay setting.

With growth comes change and this year the registration will be in the school gym and not the cafeteria.  Good news all around as runners will have access to indoor plumbing, although there will be outdoor toilets in the parking lot and on the course as well.

In 2011 the weather was perfect but a little warm so just in case of a repeat warm day, there will be another water stop on the course making it four for every loop.  Parking will be at the Town Hall and Green Acres rather than the Panther Valley Mall.  There is no parking at the school but shuttle buses will be taking the runners to the start.

The Allamuchy Harvest Fest is taking place that weekend and the shuttle buses will be making trips to the festival as well.

RUN FOR THE SEEING EYE IS ON!

It was the race that wasn’t last month.  The Run 4 the Seeing Eye couldn’t go on in September.  A little issue with a tornado closed down Morristown, but the race is taking place next Saturday, October 13th.  The start has been moved up to 3:00 p.m. in deference to an earlier sundown.  The one mile Doggie Dash/Walk will start at 2:30 p.m.

NEWPORT HALF MARATHON DREW A CROWD

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, September 30, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

It is no secret that half marathons are the new in thing in road racing.  At last Sunday’s Newport Liberty Half Marathon in Jersey City the crowds of runners were staggering to anyone who has come to the race in past years.  They filled the streets and the lines for the portable toilets snaked up and down the street.  Just getting into the parking deck was a challenge for anyone arriving after 7:00 a.m.

Three thousand, two hundred and twenty six runners entered the race while 2,641actually finished.  So many no-shows is common for half marathons according to race timer David Siconolfi of CompuScore whose company scored the race.  Still, the number of finishers was up over four hundred from 2011.  Given that the runners were offered perfect race weather, albeit windy on parts of the course it is surprising that so many did not show.

One who did show was Ken Goglas of Randolph who lead an elite pack of runners out and he stayed in the lead to finish in 1:09:11.  Jeff Perrella of Westfield was second in 1:09:21.   Cheyenne Ogletree of Garfield won the women’s race in 1:22:02.

Goglas and Perrella were on the winning open men’s team for Garden State Track Club.  The club’s C team was second while the Morris area Garmin Running club took third.

Team competition has had a changing cast of clubs.  The Garden State club that didn’t exist until late 2010 is one and the Garmin club that was created out of the disbanded Running Company is another.

Perhaps the oldest running team in the state is the Sneaker Factory and their M40 team took first in that division.   Relative newcomer team, the Do Run Runners were third as was their M50 team in that division.    The Morris County Striders M60 team finished in fourth place.

Ogletree lead her Garden State Track club team in for first in the open women’s division while the Garmin runners took third.

In the W40 division it was all local clubs in the top three; Garmin, Sneaker Factory and Do Run.  The Sneaker Factory took first in the W50 division.

Two Morristown women won prize money when they hit the top numbers in age grading; Jane Parks, 59, whose 1:40:04 was scored at 83.77% and Nora Cary, 57, whose 1:39:09 was scored at 82.26%.

Four local men were age graded above 80%; Beau Atwater, 54, of Bernardsville was scored at 84.25% for his 1:22:13 finishing time.  Bill Bosmann, 62, of Rockaway was scored at 82.37% for his 1:30:29, Antonio Mass, 48, of Budd Lake reached 81.94% for his 1:20:17, and Roger Price, 63, of Randolph reached 81.66% for his time of 1:32:09.

TEAM SCORES CAN CHANGE

Team scores in championship races and thus in the team and club grand prix are subject to change.  Team captains are required to verify that their runners have current membership in USATF-NJ and that they are citizens or have valid green cards.  A number of teams have not done so and the verification process for the USATF staff and the Long Distance Running committee is proving quite troublesome.

Team captains and club members should be able to see the up-to-date scores for the team grand prix but there has been a lengthy lag in posting the scores due to the verification problem.

RUN THE TRAILS SAFELY

As more and more runners discover the wealth of trails in Morris County and beyond, they need to be aware that they may not be alone.  Several areas are now allowing bow hunters to hunt on land that was previously closed to hunting as the defoliation of native flora by deer is becoming a serious problem.  Runners need to wear bright colors, not white, when running trails during the fall hunting season that has begun in many areas.