Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris
County, New Jersey
On Sunday, October 6, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013
SHADES OF DEATH HALF MARATHON ADDS A DEVILISH RUN
Yes, half marathons are big now in road racing. While they are not as plentiful as 5k’s that
dot the state like raisins on an oatmeal cookie, they are showing up more and
more often on race calendars.
With the closing of Sandy Hook national recreation area and
thus the cancelling of the Jersey Shore Half Marathon that was to have taken
place today, disappointed runners may be searching for an alternative
race. While the Sandy Hook course
features a beautiful setting with water on both sides of the route, another
race also features a beautiful setting.
No water views for the Shades of Death Half Marathon but the
bucolic farms scenes of Allamuchy have their own charm. The Shades of Death name and theme come from
one of the roads on the course that has been featured in Weird New Jersey.
When the half marathon was first conceived in 2011, a relay
was also run. Since the course is a
double loop a relay seemed to make sense; two people could run the race, one
loop each. But it really didn’t work out
that well, according to race director Pam Fales of Boonton, who said that the
relay had remained stagnant with little growth.
“This year we added the Devil’s Run. We run on Shades of Death Road so in keeping with
that theme, and knowing that the first loop of the half marathon is roughly 6.6
miles, we thought we could make it be 6.66,” she said, “and have it be called
the Devil’s Run.”
They’ve done even better than that and Fales said that the
course length is actually 6.666.
The change from a relay to a Category Two New Balance Grand
Prix race has clearly paid off. As of
Friday over 130 runners had registered for the race, getting close to double
the number of runners in last year’s relay.
Entries for the half marathon are also on track with the
online deadline closing tomorrow, the 7th. The runners who could not run in the Jersey
Shore Half Marathon can get their entries in today or tomorrow before the
deadline and the price goes up.
One thing that hasn’t changed according to Fales is the long
sleeve technical shirt with the skull and crossbones logo. It will be black, as were the 2011 and 2012
shirts, but this year with red accents and red stitching on the front. The half marathon runners will get a long
sleeve shirt and the Devil’s Run runners will get a short sleeve shirt with
similar design.
“Our shirts are high quality technical shirts, not fake
technical shirts,” said Fales. Her statement
brings into the open a growing complaint among runners about souvenir shirts that
claim to be technical shirts that are mere knock-offs.
With the half marathon as young as it is with only two
races, course records are there for the picking. In 2011 Mike Anis of Highland Park won the
race in 1:18:40. In 2012 Anis took over
two minutes off his time to finish in 1:16:15 but the course record went to
Atilla Sabahoglu of Piscataway who finished ahead of Anis in 1:13:19. On the women’s side Laura Swift of
Woodbridge won the 2011 race in 1:28:11 but lost the title to Kavitha Manley of
Piscataway who finished in 1:27:26 in 2012.
The course records are listed in the athletes booklet that will be
picked up on race day.
How many people can predict how fast they can run 6.666
miles? A 10K is 6.2 miles so just add another
.466, or about a half mile. Everyone who
wins their age division in the Devil’s Run will be establishing course records
for the new race.
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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