On Sunday, October 1,, 2017
SHADES OF DEATH ROAD IN ALLAMUCHY LOCATION OF HALF MARATHON
The half marathon season is in full swing. The 13.1 mile races have been going on now
for over a month. Most famously was of
course the Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon that was the state championship in
September in Jersey City.
That race bills itself as the most scenic and no doubt
having a view of New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the
Manhattan skyline is pretty impressive. On
the opposite end of the spectrum would have to be the Shades of Death Half
Marathon in Allamuchy.
Opposite end? It’s
more like another world. The course is a
scenic tour of the bucolic farms, fields and occasional woodlands of Warren
County. While the Liberty Waterfront
course is yes, flat, as in boardwalk flat, the Warren County course is while
not boardwalk flat it is mostly flat with one slight grade. Certainly not a hill. It is considered fast.
While not a championship race in the Category three division
of the New Balance Grand Prix, runners can choose to have their place and
points scored as though it is championship with a high point value of 700.
Karen Auteri of Belvidere who was a close second in the
Shades of Death in 2016 is now leading the grand prix. It is close though, with the good masters
runner, Hortencia of Garfield just 16 points behind.
On the men’s side of the grand prix, Brian Crowley of
Hillsborough is now in the lead with John Hogan of the Township of Washington
in second place by 71 points. The fall
racing season is getting interesting.
USATF LDR COMMITTEE MET IN MADISON ON MONDAY
The long distance running committee held an open meeting at
the Madison YMCA on Monday evening.
“What we have here is a failure to communicate,” is the
famous quote from the movie Cool Hand Luke.
The same could be said for the bundle of proposed changes to the
championships and the grand prix programs.
Not that it is a bad thing.
Actually it is a very positive thing that people in the long distance
running community have spotted what they believe is a problem and then have
proposed the solution.
What is interesting is that while each person sees a problem
and proposes his or her solution, another person proposes a completely opposite
solution. No fewer than four proposals were
made regarding the makeup of the teams and none were remotely similar. All will soon be posted on the USATF website where
they can be viewed and contemplated before the next meeting where they will be
voted on.
Elections for the LDR chairs and vice chairs were held in
May and several new people are now on the committee, including three from the
Morris area. Gary Rosenberg of
Morristown is now the open men’s chair.
Beau Atwater of Bernardsville is the masters chair and Bob Skorupski of
Rockaway is vice chair of cross country.
Cross country had
previously been an appointed position but a by-law change this past March established
cross country and Mountain-Ultra-Trail(MUT) as full status sports committees.
A time and place for the “decision meeting” has not been determined
but is likely to take place in November or December.
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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
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