Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris
County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 8, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013
A RACE EVERYONE AND NO ONE
WILL MISS
What race is no one going to
run next Sunday? Trick question. Did I get you?
It’s the USATF New Jersey ten
mile championship that in recent history was held in Mercer County Park in,
well, Mercer County. That race was a lot
of fun. Remember?
One year the course was
flooded in sections and then frozen over.
That year a new uncertified course was quickly redrawn to avoid the
ice. A couple of years the ice might
have been welcomed instead of what was presented instead – a steady cold icy
rain.
Further back the race was run
on top of South Mountain – three sort-of loops on the park roads up there. No shelter and only portable toilets. Hmmm.
Wasn’t that fun?
Oh, further back, if you were
running a dozen and more years ago you’ll remember that the race was held at
Picatinny Arsenal. The first was in
1994. Much like the subsequent sites, the Picatinny course was an out and back
and back out again with some zigzags thrown in.
One of those races was run in temperatures so cold that the water cups
froze between filling and using. At
least at Picatinny there were indoor toilets and even showers at the golf club
house. My, those were the days. Or is your sense of nostalgia not extending
to those nasty races the second Sunday in December?
So why were they held and why
do we no longer have the pleasure of running them?
Waaay back in the 90's the
team grand prix was sponsored by the Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon. With
that sponsorship the race was given 800 point status in the (individual) New Balance
Grand Prix.
The problem was that now that
was the one and only chance for runners to be in an 800 point race. If they had
to miss the half marathon their chances in the grand prix were nil.
The solution? Create a second, last chance race. A Category Three that would have the 800
point value. Better yet, make it a wild
card race; choose 800 points, 700 points or 500 points. Now the runners could fill in what they had
missed during the season. Despite some
really ugly weather it worked pretty well. When the half marathon stopped
sponsoring the team grand prix, the 800 point option was also dropped. But it was still a handy wild card race where
runners could choose 700 or 500 points.
Enter the USATF national club
championship cross country competition, also on the second Sunday (or Saturday)
in December. Beginning in 2009 the
national cross country committee offered a $500.00 travel stipend to the teams,
male and female, that had won the association 8km cross country championship.
Talk about a conflict! The best team in an association is sent off to compete
nationally while back home an important championship is being run without
them.
It wasn’t just the open teams
that were affected. The Raritan Valley Road
Runners, the Shore Athletic Club and the Clifton Road Runners had teams that
were competing nationally. Other New
Jersey runners also wanted to run at the national race. They faced the same conflict. Reviewing the reason for the ten mile
championship it now made little sense to offer the last chance race. More long races have come into the schedule so
the need for a last chance 500 point race has lessened.
Having a championship so late
in the season affected the USATF New Jersey staff as the grand prix was not
over until the ten miler had been run. The
New Balance Grand Prix winners and the winning teams weren’t known until almost
the middle of the month of December. That
gave the staff scant time to prepare for the awards banquet that takes place in
January. All places have to be confirmed
and then letters of congratulations along with invitations to the banquet have
to be sent.
In addition the staff and
many of the Long Distance Running committee members were attending the national
convention the week prior to the race. That
put a lot of pressure on those people to come home and immediately work on it.
All things considered it was
clear that the time was right to stop hosting the ten mile championship and end
the grand prix series the first weekend in December. Now the teams can go to the national club
cross country race and know their places are secure within the team grand prix.
##
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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