Ridgewood Run tomorrow. 10K is the masters championship.

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, May 28, 2017

  

RIDGEWOOD RUN TOMORROW -  10K IS THE MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP

How can you tell if a race is being organized by a runner, or runners?  Look to see if their website lists the course records. 

The upcoming Roxbury Community Benefit 5K on Monday, June 12, has the course records listed on its website.  The race is organized by the Morris County Striders.

 The Ridgewood Run (s) is organized by the North Jersey Masters running club.  The runs are a 10K, 5K and the road mile.  This Monday, the Ridgewood Run 10K is the USATF masters championship.  All the age division records are there to study and contemplate.

It is fascinating reading, and the records are not likely a goal for most runners,  but might be for some.  For instance, the W60 record of 44:47 was set by Toshiko d’Elia of Ridgewood many years ago.  Will Morristown’s Nora Cary be able to take that age division record away?  Don’t bet against her.  Cary finished this year’s Cherry Blossom 10K in 43:44 and at the Giralda Farms’ 10K this past November in 43:27.

No one has taken the other d’Elia records; W70 is 48:53, and the W75 is 55:13.  d’Elia died in 2014 at age 84 with a lot of records in her running log.  

There are no soft records for the race that has been in existence for 41 years.  Is there a 45 to 49 man who can beat Hugh Sweeney’s 33:15?  Former Randolph runner Jonathan Frieder, now living in Rye Brook New York but still running in New Jersey, is having an outstanding season.  Maybe he can do it.   Frieder finished third at the Dedham MA 10K national masters championship the end of April in 33:35.  The Dedham course has a killer hill midway in the race and is far tougher than Ridgewood’s. 

 

How about Peter McArdle’s 34:00.7 in the M50, or his more astonishing 33:44.9 in the M55 division.    Brian Crowley of Hillsborough or Mark Zamek of Lavallette might have a shot at the M50 record.  The M55 record?  That’s out of sight.  McArdle has since returned to his native UK so unlikely to challenge any of the older age divisions.

Reno Stirrat of Rockaway did go after and take the M60 record in 2016, finishing in 38:28.01.  Will he top that this year?  Stirrat had some down time a few months ago but appears to be coming back into top form.  His 38:39.83 at Newport is mighty close.

Will Misa Tamura of Ridgewood beat her own record of 38:43.95 that she set in 2016?   Lisa Swain of Fair Lawn finished in 43:38.2 in the W55 division in 2014 and did a 43:43 in 2015.  Now 59 Swain would have to improve a lot on her Newport 10K of 45:55 earlier this month to top that time in 2017.

Registration begins at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, with the 10K the first running event in the line-up starting at 8:20, five minutes after the wheelchair athletes go off. 

 http://www.ridgewoodrun.com/

LOCALS STARRED IN THE SUPER HERO HALF MARATHON

The Super Hero Half Marathon had a local touch with all the top runners of note being from Morris County.   The exception is Karen Auteri who won the women’s race in 1:30:22.  Auteri is from Belvidere in Warren County.

Second place woman was Alix Jennings, 46, of Madison, who was also the first masters woman.  She finished in 1:32:18.  Brenda Epstein of Morris Plains was third in 1:33:6.

Sebastian Nicewicz of Madison won the race in 1:19:58.  Second place was also the first place masters man.  Kevin Fitzgerald, 43, of Wharton finished in 1:21:57.   Trevor Emmitt of Morristown was third in 1:23:48.

The masters age grading was topped by sixty-two year old Nora Cary of Morristown who finished in 1:39:40 – age graded at 86.77% PLP.    Second in age grading was 68 year old Kay Rees, also of Morristown, whose time of 1:58:58 age graded at 79.33%.

On the masters men side, Carl Weaver, 68, of Morris Plains finished in 1:43:02 while Kevin Fitzgerald, 43, of Wharton finished in 1:21:57.  Both tied at 74.88% PLP.

The men’s relay team division had 18 teams, the women’s teams had 52, and the coed division had 46 teams, indicating that the organizers really hit the jackpot by promoting the relay concept.    That’s  116 teams participating out of the 1,135 finishers.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

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.

Good turnout for the Newport 10K on Sunday

Published by the Daily Record of Morris County

on Sunday, May 7, 2017

 By MADELINE BOST, 973-584-9302

 

GOOD TURNOUT AT A RAINY-DAY NEWPORT 10K

As expected the national elite and international elite grabbed the headlines at the Newport 10,000 in Jersey City on Saturday.   Craig Lutz of Flagstaff AZ won the race in 29:46, while Rosa Moriello of Brighton MA was the women’s winner in 34:17.

But the New Jersey elites were there also, including elite local runners.  Roberta Groner of Randolph finished third woman in 35:27. Elena Rozhko, 44, of Morristown was the first masters woman to finish.  Her time was 38:32.

 

 Brian Crowley, 52, of Hillsborough was the first masters runner to finish.  His 34:32 topped the age grading at 88:45%.  The first local masters man was Terri Davidson, 45, of Randolph who finished third masters man in 35:35.  Beau Atwater, 59, of Bernardsville finished seventh master and his 37:51 age graded at 85.84% for third in that ranking.  In between was Reno Stirrat, 63, of Rockaway who finished in 38:39 for an 87.23% PLP.

 

The race was a championship for open men and women.   Twenty-one full teams competed on the men’s side with the Garden State Athletic Club taking first, second and third in their alphabetical order.  The Morristown based Garmin team placed fourth and the Garmin women took fifth in their division.  Twelve full women’s teams competed with three others missing their fifth runner and thus coming up short of a point.

 

CLINTON TEAM RESULTS

 

The Clinton County Run 15K team results were sorted out after last weekend’s race.  Two teams had somehow become merged into several large teams last Saturday.  They now reveal a very interesting phenomenon -  a tie between two teams from the same club, so close they are separated by less than a tenth of a second.

 

The Garden State Athletic Club put two teams in the open division that were so closely matched in talent that a tie could have been predicted.  But this goes way beyond anything the team captain could have imagined.

 

The B team’s first five runner’s times totaled 4:44.27.68.  The A team’s time was 4:44.28.38.  A difference of 7 tenths of a second.

 

Local teams finished out of the medals for the most part except for the Garmin club whose teams placed third in M40 and M50.  The Do Run Running Club has merged with the North Jersey Masters club for racing purposes and the North Jersey W60 team placed first with the help of new member Nora Cary of Morristown.  Their W50 team placed second thanks to Cary also.

GRAND PRIX HAS BEEN POSTED

The numbers and places will change with the addition of Saturday’s team places in the USATF club and team grand prix

 

The Shore Athletic Club was leading the overall club grand prix but with the Garden State teams racking up impressive places that lead surely has evaporated. 

 

By my unofficial count, Garden State is now in the lead in the grand prix with the Shore team very close -  167 to 162.   Other things to keep in mind is that the results posted on the internet at CompuScore are not considered official until they have been verified.

LOCAL RACES

The Whippany Fireman’ race is this morning.  The 5K starts at 8:30 a.m.    Next Saturday the Girl’s on the Run 5K and the Run Around Lake Mohawk in Sparta will start at 8:00 a.m. 

 

I’ve long ago stopped trying to keep up with all the races going on in the area.  At one time CompuScore and Best Racing were the predominant race timing companies in this area.  Now, with an increase in timing companies, and some of the races not getting into any race calendars it is nigh impossible to be assured of complete accuracy.  All USATF sanctioned events are in the association’s web calendar, and Race Forum does a good job of including both sanctioned and non-sanctioned races. 

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