Published by the DAILY
RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, June 14,
2015
PRESIDENT’S CUP NIGHT RACE IS MONDAY NIGHT
Everybody’s favorite race is tomorrow night, Monday, June 15th. How could it not be a favorite? A fast course for one reason. It’s a course that double’s back so that you
can check on the progress of those who are ahead of you and those who are
chasing you.
Yes, it has those two hills – well one hill you climb twice,
but that is made up when you race down the same hill, one street over. Still with that hill it should not be such a
fast course. My guess has always been
that it is the combined adrenaline of all those eager racers. Most point their training for this one race.
Chris Johnson of New Providence won the race in 2014 and
joined the ranks of the sub-15 minuters with his time of 14:50. The fastest time since I began tracking is
Gene Mitchell’s 14:34 that he ran in 2003.
The Adidas Garden State Track Club has dominated the open men’s
team division. Last year the club
captured the first four places with Team Pearl Izumi in fifth and Garmin Racers
in sixth.
All the men should be in top shape after having competed at
the College Avenue Mile in New Brunswick last Saturday. The race was won by Joshua Neyhart of Port
Reading in 4:21.76. In 2014 Neyhart
placed second in 4:21.75 – now that’s consistent.
The top local man was Youssef Rochdi of Rockaway who
finished in a virtual tie for third place with Kyle Price of New
Brunswick. Both men are credited with
4:28, but Price‘s fraction was quicker - 4:28.32, while Rochdi was 4:28.54.
In the women’s race Randolph runner Roberta Groner, 37,
placed second to 27 year-old Ester Erb of Lawrenceville. Erb finished in 5:02.74 while Groner’s time
was 5:06.79.
The host club, Adidas Garden State Track Club took the top
seven spots in the open men’s team competition.
The first non-Adidas Garden State Track Club team was Morris area’s Do
Run Runners. That club placed third in
the M40, while the Garmin Racing team was first. The Randolph area Geezers placed fifth in the
M50 and sixth in the M40 division.
On the women’s side the host club took the top four
spots. The Do Run team placed eighth. Top local masters runners included Reno
Stirrat of Rockaway who won the M60 in 5:28.16 and Beau Atwater of Bernardsville,
who finished in 5:17.84 to win the M55 division.
BEARS BEWARE OF BOST
I often run on the West Morris Greenway – a stretch of road that
serves the Alamatong Watershed managed by the Morris County Municipal
Authority. It has seen a huge increase
of trail users since the ribbon cutting ceremony on National Trail Days in June
of 2012; mothers with strollers, folks with dogs, runners, cyclists and
everything in between.
That is why my encounter with a bear Friday morning concerns
me. I am not afraid of bears, and I have
encountered them several times. Two years
ago a sow with two small cubs were on the trail and I chased them off into the
woods. That may sound strange but bears
are generally timid and will move away from people once they see them and hear
them, or in my case, are scolded by them.
“Get off the trail,” I called loudly to her. “You know you are not supposed to be on the
trail!”
A couple of sharp claps of my hands and she and the cubs
went into the woods.
Friday was different.
In nearly the same spot, a young bear was standing on his hind legs
scratching his back on a utility pole. He
dropped to all fours and then back up for another scratching session. By that time I was closer and I shouted to
him to leave and clapped my hands. But he
took no notice of me and started to walk toward me – not in a menacing way, but
in an “I don’t care about you” way.
Hmmm, were we going
to just pass each other on the trail, maybe smile and give a little wave of the
hand like we runners do?
Well, that wouldn’t do.
I thought of all the other trail users – mothers with babies in
strollers, folks who would be frightened by this casual young bear. He needed to learn to stay off the trail.
I clapped again – loud and sharp – crack, crack, crack. At first my ruckus had no effect, but finally
he crossed in front of me, and I swear, gave me a dirty look like a rebellious teenager,
and went into the woods.
My hope is that his encounter with big, bad me will keep him
in the woods.
##
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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