Published
by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On
Sunday, July 9, 2017
VERIZON CORPORATE CLASSIC THURSDAY CHANGES COURSE
How does that old song go? “There’s gonna be some changes made today.”
Well, maybe not today, but on Thursday there will be
changes to the Verizon Classic 5K that could have some people unprepared. Yes, last year the staging area was changed
from the Headquarters Plaza to Morristown High School, and then, yes, a really
nasty storm changed everything. No race
at all. A make-up run was held a couple of weeks later.
Well, here it is 2017 and the Verizon Classic
is sporting a new venue and a new course.
Nothing like the course of 2016 and nothing like 2015.
Nope, runners will leave from the Verizon Building at 37
Maple Avenue and head down Mt. Kemble Avenue.
Yes, Route 202. Down and back as
in a true Out-and-Back course. The turnaround
will be just before Harter Road.
An out-and-back course with 400 people is pretty
easily managed. An out-and-back with 4,000
runners, which is possible on a good night for racing is not so easy. In 2015 when the race was last conducted as a
race, the winning time was 16:22. When
he was finishing the 3,491st runner was passing mile marker
One. Get the picture?
The course marshals will be experienced runners from
two running clubs whose job will be to keep those slower runners on their own
side of the road, while making sure that the returning runners coming back to
the finish have their side of the road free from – well – slow moving bodies.
The staging has all been figured out with traffic
posts and tape delineating the course right down the middle of Route 202. Those runners-turned-course marshals will be
making sure that the returning runners have their space.
With a field that could be as large as 4,000 runners
and walkers, the timing has to change. The
runners chip time will be their actual time when scoring the event. This means that each runner is timed only
when he or she crosses the computer timing mat at the official start point of
the race, and when they have crossed the finish line.
This race does not score age divisions as the focus is
on the many corporate teams that compete.
However, runners with no affiliation are also free to register and run,
although there are no age division awards.
The race has a 7:30 p.m. start time. For more
information check out www.verizoncorporateclassic.com.
ELLIE’S 5K RUN JULY 16 AT HORSESHOE LAKE IN SUCCASUNNA
Continuing to use old metaphors: what we have here is a horse of a different
color. As in the Ellie’s 5K at Horseshoe
Lake park in Succasunna. The course has
to be the most challenging that anyone has ever run, and yet it has no hills.
The park has a perimeter path of less than two full
miles, so to run a 5K the race organizers have been creative to find a full 3.1-mile
course. It is all for a good
cause. The race benefits the Ellie
Reynolds ALS Foundation.
RACE FOR RECOVERY
At the Race for Recovery 5K at Central Park on the
July 4th, 44-year-old Elena Rozhko of Morristown almost won the race
outright. She finished in 18:52 for
third overall. Youngster Patrick Mullen,
16, of Morristown won the race in 17:43, with Sean Thoulitus, 18, of Gillette
second in 17:55. An enthusiastic group
of supporters of the Market Street Mission boosted the number of finishers to
240, many of them walking the 3.1-mile cross-country course.
##
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
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