Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris
County, New Jersey
On Sunday, October 13, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013
NATIONAL MASTERS CROSS COUNTRY NEXT SUNDAY AT DEER PATH PARK
National championships are not all alike and even national
cross country races are not all alike. Most
masters cross country races separate the men and women into two races. The New Jersey hosted race has four masters
races and one race for open runners and non USATF members.
That race is the first on the schedule and will start at
10:00 a.m. A large contingent of Garden
State Track Club runners have entered. The
club has dominated the open division all year and will make for exciting
racing.
The course is a double loop of Deer Path Park with
opportunities for spectators to view the action four times in the race. Spectators can position themselves on the
park access road west of the start and then run about two hundred meters up the
road where the runners will be about a half mile into the race. An easy jog back to the original viewing
point and they can see the runners at about half way into the race. Another quick jog to the second spot and they
will see the runners on their second time out on the course. Another easy jog back to the original
location and they can watch the runners race to the finish.
Next up is the masters women’s race that will feature
superstar Kathy Martin of Northport, Long Island, NY. Martin missed by two seconds the 5K road mile
age division record at the Syracuse Festival of Races on the 6th. Martin finished in 19:06 and age graded at
103.14% PLP. Ironically the record that
she missed was her own that she set two years ago at the same race.
North Jersey Masters runner Erika Campbell, 64, of Ridgewood
will be another strong contender in that division. Campbell placed third in the W60 at the
Syracuse race in 21:24 and took home some prize money in the age grading division
where she scored 94.75% for fifth age graded.
The Men 40+ race is the first of three masters men race. Ray Pugsley
of the Baltimore Washington Track Club should be heading the lead pack. Pugsley was third in the national cross
country club championships last December, where he finished the 10K in
33:16. Eric Stabb and Chad Newton of Atlanta Track
Club should be up front as well. Stabb
finished the club 10K in 34:07 and Newton in 34:17. Newton won the masters division of the Syracuse
Festival of Races 5K last Sunday in 15:25.
New Jersey’s Hector Rivera of Clifton placed fourth at Syracuse in
15:37, but his name has not appeared on the entry list for the masters cross
country race.
Kristian Blaich of the Atlanta Track club was fourth overall
in Syracuse and easily won the M45 division in 15:29. Hillsborough runner Brian Crowley, 48, was
third in Syracuse in 16:25 helping his Garmin Runners to second place in the
M40 team division.
The Men 50+ race will be no less exciting with Running Times
columnist Peter McGill of the Cal Coast team the headliner. He will have competition from Mark Hixson
from the Hartford Track Club who was fifth at the club race in 2012 in 34:26 in
the M45 race. Gary Droze of the Atlanta
Track Club was third in that division in Syracuse in 16:49. Mark Zamek who runs for the Raritan Valley
Road Runners was a late entry last week who can be expected to put in a good
effort. Zamek was the Midland Run winner
in 1992.
Ken Youngers of the
Atlanta Track Club won the club 10K in 2012 in the M55 division in 37:11 and in
the Syracuse race last Sunday he was second in 17:02.
Ronville Gravesande of Union New Jersey placed fourth in the
M60 division at the 5K in Syracuse in 18:47, a few seconds ahead of Kirk Larson
of the Atlanta Track club. They’ll have
competition from Roger Price, 64, of Randolph who runs for the Raritan Valley
Road Runners and Emmanuel Brody from Roselle who runs for the Shore Athletic
Club
Price’s RVRR teammate Terry Delph could be the pick for the
M65 division although Jerry Learned of the Atlanta Track Club could give him a
good run. Learned finished in Syracuse
in 19:31.
Ed Smith, 71, of Mountain Lakes and the Shore Athletic Club
has to be the favorite in his division.
He placed second to Doug Goodhue of Ann Arbor in 21:29. Goodhue is not coming to New Jersey and that
leaves the race wide open, although Charles Patterson of the Atlanta Track Club
has entered the Deer Path race. He was
first in his division at the club nationals last December.
Notable by their absence in the registration list is the
Genesee Valley Harriers. The Harriers
are always late entries and their coach has told organizers that they will have
between 30 and 40 runners at the race.
As of mid afternoon on Friday the status of entry page at the national
website showed 374 runners entered. Add
in the Genesee team and the entries will jump to over 400.
Tonight at 11:59 p.m. the entry fee will go from $30.00 to
$40.00 so it is time for the procrastinators to fire up their computers and get
in their entries. Thirty dollars is a
snap when you throw in the long sleeve technical shirt and the chance to watch
some exciting racing.
They will have until Wednesday to register at $40.00 and
after that the online option is closed and they will have to enter in person at
the meet hotel, the Holiday Inn in Clinton, Saturday afternoon/evening and pay
another extra tenner. There is no race
day registration.
The national entry can be done at the New Jersey race calendar. Click on the link and have your USATF membership number handy as well as your credit card.
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.
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