Ridgewood Runs tomorrow

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, May 27, 2018

RIDGEWOOD RUNS TOMORROW

Tomorrow the masters runners come out to play.  Well, not that you have to be masters age, which is of course, age 40 and more, but the Ridgewood Run 10K is a masters championship for both men and women.

The Ridgewood Run has been around for a long time, and the website makes for interesting reading when you find the Course Records page.  Way back in 1993, local hero Joe LeMay set the course record of 29:11 when he was in the 25 to 29 age division.  That would put LeMay now in the M50 division if he were to race tomorrow.

He would have to beat Hillsborough’s Brian Crowley’s time of 33:57 set just last year to take that title.  Reno Stirrat of Rockaway set the M60 age division course record of 38:28 in 2016.  Stirrat posted on Facebook Friday that he is dealing with a back issue.  He is registered to run but the back may prevent that from happening. 

Some of the age division records were set some time ago, like those of Austin Newman of Westfield, who ran a 46:32 in the M75 division, or Dudley Healy of Chatham whose record of 51:16 in the M80 has stood for quite some time.  But 89 year old Nathaniel Finestone’s M85 record time of 1:10:26 was set in 2014 and Finestone of Mountainside is still competing and will be running tomorrow. 

Misa Tamura of Ridgewood set the W50 record in 2016 of 38:43, and Lisa Swain of Fair Lawn set the W55 of 43:38 in 2014.  Imme Dyson of Princeton set the W80 record of 1:05:20 in 2017.  Both Dyson and Tamura are listed as registered for the race tomorrow. 

The Ridgewood Run is actually an all morning event with a 5K following the 10K, which is then followed by elite road miles.  In 2017 Ben Malone of River Vale finished in 4:23 to win the open men division, while Mark Williams of Columbia won the masters mile in 4:42.  Rolanda Bell of Laurelton NY won the open women’s mile in 5:05.  Elena Rozhko of Morristown won the masters women’s mile in 5:33.

GRAND PRIX UPDATES

The New Balance Grand Prix and the Mini Grand Prix have been posted and no surprise that Charlie Slaughter of Parsippany has the lead in the overall grand prix.  He has all but one of the maximum nine races.  Aya Leitz of Jersey City has the women’s lead.

What I find interesting is the contest in the Category 3 Mini Series.  Ricardo Romero of Hillsborough with four of the five necessary races has the lead, but in second place with just three races is Aaron Lesko of Morristown with 1,898 points and in third is Michael Dixon of Highland Park with 1,893 points.  Leskow beat Dixon in the two distance races that they both competed in, and both have the maximum 500 points in a non-championship race. 

Ah, interesting that Stacey Slaughter, daughter of Charlie is leading Aya Leitz in the Category 3 Mini Series women’s division.

In the Category 1 Mini Series, Rob Albano of Mahwah has a so far perfect score of 3,700 with seven of the maximum eight races.  Yes, he has won every race in that category that he entered.

Elena Rozhko has a similar record.  She has won four out of five races and will easily move from second to first with just three more Category 1 races.

What is interesting about these mini division series is that the top three people in the Overall New Balance Grand Prix are removed at season’s end from the mini series results for awards.    If Rozhko, for example places in the top three in the New Balance series she will disappear from the minis.

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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

Our House was a wash but not a wash out

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, May 20, 2018

 OUR HOUSE WAS A WASH BUT NOT A WASH-OUT

Rain or no rain, the Our House Four mile championship was going to take place.  Races seldom cancel due to rain and the race in Summit was no exception. 

With a small field of just a bit over 300 runners the race was on in the pouring cold rain.  The Boston Marathon this year may have set the standard for miserable races but at least the Summit race lasted for only those four miles.

Rob Albano of Mahwah crossed the finish line in 19:55 with Matt Gillette of Orefield PA just behind him in 19:58. Stephen Mennitt of Brooklyn NY was third in 20:18 with Aaron Leskow of Morristown in fourth place.

Albano recently joined the Freedom Running Club and along with Mennitt, Steven Lange of Stanhope, team captain Atilla Sabahoglu of Franklin Park, and Daniel Bier of Short Hills, placed first in the open team division.

The next three spots were taken by the Garden State Track Club teams, followed by the Garmin Runners in fifth place.  The Garmin team was made up solely by masters men with Stuart Haynes, 42, of Chatham their first man to finish.  He was 10^th overall with his time of 22:04.

Garden State’s M40 A team won that division in a squeaker ahead of the Garmin squad by only ten seconds of the combined total times of the first five me to score.   Their M50 team captured first again, over the Garmin Runners.  The Shore Athletic Club placed first in the M60 division with Reno Stirrat, 64, of Rockaway first in his division and tops in the team.  He was also the top age graded man with an 85.87%.

On the women’s side, Laura Cummings of HoHoKus placed first in 23:53, with 45 year old Elena Rozhko of Morristown in second place with a time of 24:12.  Cummings lead in her Garden State team to first in the open women’s division and Rozhko was first on the third place Garmin Runners team.  The Garmin team was made up of all masters age women and they took the W40 Division. 

In the W50 division the North Jersey Masters team, lead in by Nora Cary, 63, of Morristown, with Debbie Brathwaite of Hawthorne and Diane Washburne of Mendham placed third.  Raritan Valley Road Runners were first.  Cary finished in 28:42 to top the age grading at 87.69% PLP.

The Morris County Striders had the sole teams in the W70 and W80 divisions.

In all, 78 teams competed in the rain with the last finishers the Striders W80 women; Diane Stone, Shirley Pettijohn, both of Chatham and Melva Murray of Hillsborough.  The three women poke fun at the idea of aging and are probably more active racers than the younger runners in the field. Saturday’s race was the third race in seven days for the trio.

Next up for the runners will be the Ridgewood Run 10K that this year will be the masters men and women’s championship.  The race, which takes place on Memorial Day will also offer a 5K and a road mile. 

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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

Our House four next week

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, May 13, 2018

STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS HERE

The state championships seem to be tumbling off the calendar nonstop this month.

Last weeks Newport 10,000 followed the previous weeks 15K in Clinton, and with just a one-week gap, the newest championship in the line-up is arriving in Summit on the 19^th of this month.  Although it is new, it is also an established race, redrawn from a five mile to a four mile.  The setting for the Our House is at the Village Green in Summit with parking for all in a nearby municipal parking garage.  When it was a five mile race, the course was challenging.  Did they eliminate the hills with this re-draw? 

Last year, when the four miler was not a championship, Stephen Mennitt of Brooklyn and Atilla Sabahoglu of Manville raced each other to the finish line in 22:29 and 22:30 – at 5:37 pace.  Neither time even came close to 80% PLP, which might tell us what the course was like.  Or, were the two just taking it easy with no other challengers chasing them. 

This year will be quite different.   The Garden State Track Club with its overflowing stable of open runners will likely capture the top spots down through the clubs C, D, E teams on the men’s side.

Nothing is certain though.  At last week’s 10,000 in Jersey City, Garden State took first and second place, but third went to the growing Freedom Running Club, with Mennitt and Sabahoglu the first two men on the team.

Mennitt’s 32:00 put him at the head of the New Jersey elite list, followed by Morristown’s Aaron Leskow in 32:13.  The race was won by Abinet Adraro of Albuquerque in 29:52 and on the women’s side, Kaitlin Goodman of Providence RI in 34:12.  The second woman finisher was Amanda Marino of Asbury Park, who scored on the winning women’s team, the Shore Athletic Club.  The Shore team won by the slim margin of four seconds over second place Garden State; 3:23:02 to 3:23:06.

Seventeen complete men’s teams competed and thirteen women’s teams, with an impressive 1,632 finishers.

RACES BLOOMING ALL OVER

Runners can find a race in just about every town this month and plenty close to home in Morris County.  There is almost always a link at the end of this column where runners can find race calendars. 

Two local races of note are of note for two different reasons.  The first race to mention is the Mind Maters 5K in Madison.  It is the first race to take place this season on a weekday evening.  It is this Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and is run through and around the Giralda Farms corporate campus.

The other race is nearly four times as large when including the number of runners doing the relay in the Super Hero Half Marathon.  It features an early 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning start at Ginty Field in Morris Township, with a finish at Loantaka Park off South Street.

NEW JERSEY ELITES SCORE VICTORIES AWAY FROM HOME

While New Jersey was hosting the 10,000 meters with invited elites from around the country, some of our own runners traveled outside the state to compete.  Randolph’s Roberta Groner placed 7^th woman overall in the Pittsburg Half Marathon last weekend.  Her time of 1:12:35 put her first masters woman and age graded at 92.9%.

Johnathan Frieder, formerly of Randolph, and now of Rye Brook NY placed first in the M45 division, and third of all men over 40 at the Blue Cross Broad Street ten mile run, in 53:58.

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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