Sunday, June 30, 2013

Fitzgerald Lager Run ends the first half of the racing season



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, June 30, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013


FITZGERALD LAGER RUN ENDS THE FIRST HALF OF THE RACING SEASON

Runners could begin to suffer from a letdown now that the most competitive races have been run in the spring/summer season.  Masters men gave their best effort at the Fitzgerald Lager Run 5K this past Sunday in Glen Ridge.  Forty-eight teams made up a large bulk of the race that had 1,149 finishers.

First across the line was Joseph Norton of Haddonfield who finished in exactly sixteen minutes.  Ben Clark of Morristown was second in 16:07.  David Slavinski, 42, of Point Pleasant finished in third overall and first master in 16:16.  Slavinski’s team, the Pearl Izumi team that first raced the previous Monday at the President’s Cup Night Race placed first in the M40 division.  The Sneaker Factory was second and the North Jersey Masters were third.  Nineteen teams competed in that division.

In the M50 division the Fleet Feet Essex running club pulled off a huge upset.  The team has never finished higher than eighth, defeating the division leader Raritan Valley Road Runners 1:35:17 to 1:35:38.  The biggest squeaker though was a one second difference between the RVRR team and the Shore Athletic Club A team. 

Not to be outdone for irony, a Shore team was first in the M60 division, but it was their B team that defeated their A team, and the difference was – you guessed it – one second.  Talk about balancing your teams. 

At the end of the first half of the season Sneaker Factory is in the lead in the M40 division of the team grand prix with the Garmin runners in second.  Garmin finished in an uncharacteristic fifth place at the Lager Run putting them three points behind the Sneaker Factory.  Raritan Valley is in third, five points back.

Despite their second place finish at last Sunday’s race, Raritan Valley still holds the lead in the M50 team grand prix.  The Do Run Runners team that finished in sixth place is hanging on to second in while the Shore club is one point behind in third.

Shore AC – their A team – has a mighty lead in the M60 team grand prix division with the Morris County Striders and Raritan Valley tied for second.

Although the race was the USATF masters men championship Jane Parks of Morristown had a strong performance on the women’s side.  Parks has had a great season and her 22:00 race at age 60 earned her 86.91% on the age grading scale and first for masters women.  Allison Dublinski of Morristown was the overall women’s winner in 18:24.

BUSINESS’S BATTLED MONDAY NIGHT
In Florham Park on Monday night, Youssef Rochdi of East Hanover won the Battle of the Business 5K in 17:17 and on the women’s side Michelle Quinlan of Morris Plains was the winner in 19:52.  ADP won both the men and women’s large company team division, but Novartis won the Co-ed division, BASF was second and Lowenstein Sandler was third.

Hennon and Walsh was first in the small company coed division, Connell Foley was second and Nielsen was third.  These corporate teams and many more will be racing next month at the Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic in Morristown on July 18th.

MENDHAM RACES WERE TOUGH
Runners report that the Patriot’s 5K and 8K in Mendham this past Saturday were tough.  It’s hard to avoid hills in Mendham and apparently the race courses featured them.  Ted Mussano of Wayne won the 8K race in 29:28 and Jeanne Pare of Mendham was the women’s winner in 32:13.  Although Pare has not seen much racing this season, the 52 year old shows she still has the speed to defeat all women younger than herself.  In fact, only five men ran faster than Pare.

Mendham seems to have a knack for turning out fast female runners and in the 5K, a thirteen year old, Hope Tiboni of Mendham finished in 18:59 and second overall.  Tiboni won her division at the USATF NJ cross country Junior Olympics last November.  She’s legit.
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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, June 23, 2013

Former Randolph Standout wins the President's Cup



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, June 23, 2013

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013


By MADELINE BOST, 973-584-0679

FORMER RANDOLPH STANDOUT WINS THE PRESIDENT’S CUP

The President’s Cup Night Race 5K in Millburn is a great race for spectators.  When you run it and are in the back of the field you do not get the view that a spectator gets.  For that reason your humble reporter cannot tell you what happened on Monday at the front of the race, but judging by the results the race had no duels and not the speed of previous years.

That’s not to say that Kenneth Goglas of Port Reading didn’t have a great race.  Not many people can run 15:08 for a 5K, but that time is well off the top of the list and misses being entered into the coveted “under fifteen”.  Goglas was a Randolph standout while competing at cross country and track for Randolph High School a dozen plus years ago.

Goglas’ Garden State Track Club A team won the Open Men’s Team Championship and second place Stephen Minnitt (15:12) of Edison brought the club’s B team in for second.  The real cliff hanger was between third and fourth place with the Garmin Runners placing third with their combined time of 1:22.44 edging out the new-kids-on-the-block, Pearl Izumi- Mid Atlantic that tallied 1:22.45.  Justin Scheid of Sparta was the top man on that team and third overall in 15:24.  Scheid actually is in the “under fifteen” list twice with a 14:42 in 2009, and in 2010 with his winning 14:50.

Twenty-three open men’s teams finished with the top ten earning points in the team grand prix.  The Garden State Track Club’s B team is still in the lead with 40 points, with their A team trailing by four points.  The Raritan Valley Road Runners are in third with 25 points and the Garmin Runners and Sneaker Factory are tied at fourth with 23 points. 

On the women’s side, Maria Danna of Kenvil placed first in 17:54.  Allison Dublinski of Morristown was second in 18:11 and Sarah Schillaci of Madison was third in 18:30.

TONIGHT THE MASTERS MEN COME OUT TO PLAY

Morris area runners will be in their cars this afternoon and heading for Glen Ridge for the Fitzgerald’s 1928 Lager Run 5K.  Now a real favorite after being named the masters men championship several years ago, the race draws over one thousand runners with the fastest masters men in the state competing.

It’s much like the President’s Cup race with a good fast course and cold beer afterward.  The setting is even more favorable than the race on Monday night as the finish is on the track and the infield is the location for all socializing as well as the awards announcements.

Local clubs will have strong teams competing.  In 2012 the Fleet Feet Essex running club won the M40 division with the Sneaker Factory in second.  This year many of those men on the Fleet Feet team are now on the new Pearl Izumi team, so it will be interesting to see how things shake out in that division. 

Parking is on street so smart runners will plan to get to the race site early in order to find a spot on a side street that is close to the track at Hurrell Field at 865 Bloomfield Avenue.

BATTLE OF THE BUSINESS 5K ON MONDAY NIGHT          
Another night race not to be overlooked is the Battle of the Business 5K on Monday at the Green at Florham Park at 180 Park Avenue.   Corporate teams, both large - 250 employees or more, and small, and club teams are invited to send their teams.  Registration opens at 6:00 p.m. and the race goes off at 7:30 p.m.

That is not the only night race in Morris County this week.  Fosterfields is hosting their Frantic Fun run on Tuesday, the 25th.  It is a cross country style trail race that goes through the historical farm off Kahdena Road in Morristown.  The race starts at 7:00 p.m. with registration beginning at 5:00 a.m.

On Saturday morning, the 29th, the Rockaway Rotary is hosting 5K Run to Fight Hunger at 9:00 a.m. from the United Church of the Rockaways on Hoagland Avenue in Rockaway.  The race has been going on for a long time, using a variety of courses, and this one, a full loop of the borough looks like a great course.
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Publish only when space permits.
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, June 16, 2013

President's Cup Night Race back as Championship



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, June 16, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013


PRESIDENT’S CUP NIGHT RACE

Being a championship one year does not guarantee a race will be a championship the next year.  Such was the case last year when the championship for open men in the USATF New Jersey line-up was awarded to a race that wasn’t the President’s Cup Night Race 5K.   If that wording reads a little strange it is completely deliberate.

“The President’s Cup isn’t a championship?” was the plaintive cry from many runners.  Not that the race that was chosen was a poor race, it was just that the President’s Cup had become so cemented as the open men’s race that people had a hard time comprehending that in 2012 it was not going to be a championship.

Well, all those mourners can now be celebrants as the President’s Cup Night Race is back wearing its banner of “championship”.

Does it make a difference?  Well, maybe not very much.  In 2012 when it was not a championship it had 227 fewer runners than in 2011 when it was a championship.  That’s a lot of runners but when you have 1,117 finishers as it was in 2012 you may not miss the other 227 that came in 2011.

Did it make a difference in the quality of the men’s field?  Well, maybe just a little.  None of the racers last year made it into my top finishing times list that records all times since 1999 that were under fifteen minutes.  The winner in 2012 was Jeff Perrella of Westfield who finished in 15:02.  In 2011, when he also won the race, his time was 14:50. 

That year he was running for a team, the Garden State Track Club and that could have been a motivating factor, since the times of the top five runners are added together and seconds count.  Of course a runner can’t know what is going on behind him so Perrella didn’t know that his team was going to win the team competition by close to two minutes.

So speculating is pretty useless.  What is known is that the race is a clear favorite for runners in the northern one third of the state and even some shore area runners like to come up for it as well.  It is a very fast race, fueled by the collective adrenaline of those thousand plus runners.  Gene Mitchell of Franklin Lakes won the race in 2003 with a top-of-the-list time of 14:34.

Of the fourteen men who have times under fifteen minutes at the President’s Cup, only Justin Scheid of Sparta appears to be racing in 2013.  He won the Portugal Day 5K last week in 15:49, far off his 14:42 at the President’s Cup in 2009. 

In 2011 all of the clubs sent teams, some B and C teams.  Twenty-six finished the race.  Interesting that this year the top twelve teams will garner points in the USATF team grand prix thanks to a change made at the February Long Distance Running committee meeting.

Registration at Charlie Brown’s restaurant at Main and Essex Street begins at 6:30 p.m.  The race is definetly a night race as it goes off at 8:00 p.m.  Runners who have not registered can save themselves ten dollars by registering on-line today.  On race day the fee jumps to $35.00, with no promise of a race t-shirt.

Interesting side note about last year’s race.  The top two women, Elena Rozhko of Morristown and Catherine Smith of Wayne with 17:23 and 17:40 respectively have now turned forty.  Rozhko has been burning up the roads this year but Smith has taken a little break according to the Essex Running Club newsletter.  Diagnosed with a bone bruise Smith was told no running for four weeks.  Once she is back and racing fit she and Rozhko should make for some pretty interesting masters racing.

It’s time to get in your registration to the Fitzgerald’s Lager Run 5K that is next Sunday in Glen Ridge.  It is the USATF New Jersey masters men 5K championship.
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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, June 9, 2013

Fales Leaves USATF New Jersey



Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, June 9, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013


Nine years and nine months after taking over the management of the New Jersey office of USATF, Pam Fales of Boonton accepted an employment offer she couldn’t refuse and tendered her resignation to President Ed Neighbour.  Fales returns to her roots in corporate America and leaves behind a legacy with USATF that will be hard to match.

When Fales took the job of Managing Director the association had been managed by a paid staff member for about a dozen years.  Many associations still operate with only volunteers and it was a leap of faith for the officers at that time to venture into a paid staff person.

It had not been easy financially.  The association had drawn down its reserves over those years.  Three managing directors had come and gone. 

Fales set her sights on reducing expenses and raising revenue.  To say she was successful is an understatement.  During her tenure the association went from a near zero bank balance to one that is now the envy of many associations.  The membership had grown to over six thousand by the end of 2012 and the association is close to that now with six months yet to go.

Events that have been sanctioned totaled 389 in 2012 and will likely reach that in 2013. 
New Jersey has been recognized nationally as one the top associations in the country.

Of course Fales has had the help of dedicated volunteers who serve on the Board of Trustees and as chairs and vice chairs of sports committees.  But you could not find one who would claim credit for the association’s growth if it hadn’t been for Fales “ownership” of the management of the association.

Fortunately Fales has agreed to stay on as the Acting Managing Director during the transition and she will also serve as the event director for several of the events that are hosted by USATF.  So though she now commutes to New York City each day she is still aiding the association she has served for so long.

“We will certainly miss Pam,” said Neighbour.   “But we are grateful to her for agreeing to continue helping us during this period.”

NEW COURSE RECORDS AT THE ROXBURY COMMUNITY BENEFIT 5K          

Former Randolph high school standout miler Colin Frost won the Roxbury Community Benefit 5K Monday night in record setting time.  Frost jumped into the lead at the start and was never challenged.  He averaged 5:06 per mile to reach the finish line in 15:51, establishing a new record for the course that had been newly designed in 2012. 

Maria Danna of Kenvil also set the women’s course record and with an outstanding performance as well.  She finished in seventh place overall in 18:13.

Rain in the morning gave way during the day to scattered clouds and dry weather for the race that started at 7:00 p.m.  Over six hundred runners were registered for the race with 593 finishers.  Eric Prince of Chester was the first masters runner to finish.  His time was 17:33.  The top masters woman was Mary Christian of Flanders who finished in 20:26.  Christian, 49, was also the top age graded woman at 81.04%.  The top local masters man was Antonio Massa, 48, of Budd Lake whose 18:17 was age graded at 79.38%.
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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.