Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris
County, New Jersey
On Sunday, December 22, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013
No
one gets to rest on their laurels in racing.
For three years Michael Dixon of Fanwood won the New Balance Grand Prix
outright. In 2013 Dixon was pursuing
other goals, that of an ultra runner and was unable to maximize his score in
the series. That left him out of the
overall top three in the men’s division, but still good enough to win the 34
and under division. Two Morris area men
placed second and third to Dixon; Mark
Minervini of Stanhope and Ben Clarke of Morristown, respectively.
The
M40 division was nothing if not competitive.
Both Gary Rosenberg of Morristown and Scott Isgett of Rockaway finished
in the top ten as was noted here last week and thus Rosenberg placed first in the
division and Isgett second. Antonio
Massa of Budd Lake has placed second in his M45 division with John Sabatino of
Morris Plains in third.
Morris
area men swept the M55 division with Beau Atwater in first, Charlie Slaughter
of Parsippany second and James Button of Mendham third. Bill Bosman of Rockaway won the M60 division and
Hilary Peterlin of Oakridge won the M70 division.
The
M70 division contest illustrates the maxim that you must be in it to win
it. Edward Smith of Mountain Lakes will
outrun any and all of the men who finished ahead of him in the grand prix,
including Peterlin. But Smith missed three
of the nine required races and that put him in fourth place.
Allison Dublinski of Morristown is another fast runner who did not score in nine races and by missing just one she finished in third place in the 34 and under division instead of first.
Remove
Elena Rozhko of Morristown from the W40 division since she was the overall
winner and Polly Harrison of Basking Ridge takes first in that division. Joanna Stevens also of Basking Ridge moves to
third.
The
same is true in the W45 division when Misa Tamura of Ridgewood comes out for
placing second overall.
The
women in her division move up and Susan Bessin of Madison is credited with
third place.
Nora
Cary of Morristown placed first in the W55 division, with Lorraine McPhillips
of Basking Ridge in third.
No
surprises in the W60 division. Jane
Parks of Morristown wins handily with a spread of nearly a thousand points. Her Rose City Runner teammate, Cande Olsen of
Chatham takes second place. Mary Ann
Murphy of Livingston won the W70 division.
Shirley Pettijohn of Chatham captures first place in the W80 division, leading in the rest of her Morris County Striders teammates Melva Murray of Bedminster, Diane Stone of Bernardsville and Patricia Tummey of Randolph.
Placing
in the top three in an age division is not just about bragging rights. First place earns a runner two hundred
dollars, second is one hundred and twenty-five and third gets one hundred. The overall winners are awarded five hundred,
second is four hundred and third is three hundred.
Probably
the toughest spot to be in during the year is hovering at third or fourth. If it is a tight race for third, the runners
needs to cover the bases and also pick one of the Mini grand prix to focus
on. Those who place one, two or three in
the overall New Balance grand prix are taken out of the mini grand prix and the
next three move up.
Mark
Washbourne of Mendham is one runner who falls into the also- ran category and
who covered his bases very well.
Washbourne is a Streaker who hasn’t missed a day of running in several
years, so it is a natural for him to hit a high number of races. Washbourne finished fourth in his M55
division of the individual grand prix but captured second in both the Mini One
Grand Prix and the Mini Two Grand Prix.
At
the most senior end of the spectrum is Patricia Tummey of Randolph who finished
in fourth place in the W80 division.
Tummey, who will have the W85 division all to herself in 2014, made the
effort to get to enough Mini One grand prix races and she will be accepting her
award at the USATF New Jersey awards banquet in January along with all the
other grand prix racers.
##
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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