Spotlight on Youth

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, October 15, 2017

SPOTLIGHT ON YOUTH

Two cross country events are coming up that most readers will not qualify for.  You have to be under 18 years old for one, or in sixth, seventh and eighth grade in the other.

Most adult runners are aware that USATF and AAU offer cross country competition to our youthful runners.  Last year the Morris area Lakeland League hosted the regional USATF meet at Central Park, Greystone in Morris Plains.  Lakeland hosts meets throughout the season at Central Park.  The state meet was held at Deer Path Park in Hunterdon County.

This year the state meet is back again at Deer Path, on November 5 and the regional meet will be in Youngwood PA.

Youths in USATF are in two year age divisions with every child the age they will be on December 31 of the competitive year.  In cross country the youngest run 2 kilometers, and the oldest run a full 5 kilometers.  In between are 3km, and 4km. 

If you are an adult runner with kids you may have your kids participating in your towns program through the Lakeland League, as it is well known and highly regarded.

Another less known event is taking place on October 28 at the Montgomery School in Skillman for New Jersey middle school children.  Begun in 2013 by Andy Martin, standout runner for Hunterdon North, Martin has remained active in the sport.  Martin for a time was the managing director of the New Jersey association of USATF and then lured to the national office in Indiana where he still resides.  But Martin hasn’t quite left his roots and he said that he had seen how successful the Indiana middle school cross country program was and wanted to bring it to New Jersey. 

This is the first year in Skillman.  In 2013, 2014 and 2015 the meet was held at Six Flags, Great Adventure in Jackson.  Skillman is more centrally located for all of New Jersey kids.

 The format of the races is somewhat different from USATF, although USATF rules are applied.  All of the children run 3 kilometer.  Like USATF they are split by gender.

Take a look at the course map on the event website  http://www.njmsxc.com.  It is a spectator’s dream course with four opportunities to watch your kid.  One at the start, one on the first loop and going out to a dog leg turnaround, one when coming in from the turnaround and then at the finish.

You’ve got to love this.  The individual winners in the championship races will be given a trophy, a 361 Champion Jacket and a pair of 361 shoes, thanks the Jorge Lopes, the 361 rep and Runners Haven in Randolph, both sponsors.  In fact, Maryellen and Kevin Higgins of Runners Haven will be on site with merchandize available for purchase.  Lopes, who is a competitive runner like Higgins will also be onsite.

The top 3 teams will receive medals.  The winning team will take home the state champion trophy and the top seven athletes on the team will also get a 361 Champions Jacket. 

Here’s where it deviates from USATF in a big way.  The head coach will also receive a jacket and a pair of 361 shoes.  Not bad, coach.

And guess who is going to be handing out the awards.  None other than our own New Jersey super star, Olympian Robby Andrews. 

Children who are unattached can enter either event or run on the recreation department team.  For the USATF event they must be current members of USATF. 

The Middle School championship invites schools to send children to the event, but children whose school is not participating can enter unattached.  Membership in USATF is not required.

SHADES OF DEATH AND 6.66 MILE RUN

When you see Reno Stirrat, 62, of Rockaway on the start line, you know everyone else in the M60 division is running for second.  At the 6.66 mile run that was held alongside the Shades of Death Half Marathon this past Sunday in Allamuchy, Stirrat went one better.  He was the first finisher overall in a time of 44:31. Alexandra Niles of Fairfield was the women’s winner in 43:35.

The Shades of Death was won by Sam Teigen of Hawthorne in 1:19:05.  Lauren Jackson of Augusta won the women’s division in 1:29:00.

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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

Little Silver Championship attracted fast women

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, October 8, 2017

LITTLE SILVER CHAMPIONSHIP ATTRACTED FAST WOMEN

Thirty-one women finished the Little Silver 5K this past Sunday in under 20 minutes.  The race was the open women’s championship and that statistic tells it all.  It was a resounding success.

The top three women finished in under 18 minutes; Shelby Greany of Tuxedo Park NY in 17:11, Nicolette Mateescu of Kendall Park in 17:12 and Kristin Andrews of Manalapan in 17:27.  Those three finished in 6^th, 7^th and 8^th overall.  The top runner was Kyle Price of North Brunswick who finished in 15:23

Greany was on the first place team, the Adidas Garden State Track Club A, and Andrews was on the third place Shore Athletic Club A team.  The Garden State club scored second, fourth and fifth place team. 

Thirteen teams finished the race including the local Morris County Striders and the North Jersey Masters with their Do Run Runners, which rely heavily on their masters age women and finished well down on the list of teams.

NEW JERSEY MASTERS EXCEL AT THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Several New Jersey masters runners and teams competed at the masters national championship at the Festival of Races 5K in Syracuse on Sunday with outstanding performances by some.  Former Randolph resident and now from Rye Brook NY, Jonathan Frieder, 46 placed third overall with a time of 15:49.  His brother Elliott of Montville who is coming back after a long lay-off placed fourth in the M45 division in 16:18.

Mark Williams formerly of Lake Hopatcong and now of Columbia NJ finished fifth is his M40 division in 16:33. Williams was on the second place M40 team and astonishing in such an elite field, the Garmin Runners scored with 52-year-old Brian Crowley of Hillsborough and 54-year-old Peter Kashulines of Mountain Lakes who finished in 17:23.

It gets better for New Jersey.  The third place team was the Adidas Garden State Track Club and their third scoring runner was 58-year-old Gary Leaman of Hardwick.  Thomas Knowles of Oakland lead the team in with Chuck Schneekloth of Franklin next.  Their times were 16:42 for Knowles, 17:01 for Schneekloth, and 17:25 for Leaman.

 In the M60 team division, the Shore Athletic Club placed third with Reno Stirrat of Rockaway leading them in with a time of 18:59.

The Shore club placed fourth in the M70 team division and the Clifton Road Runners placed sixth.  That club has no man under age 75 and their top man, Tony Fiory, age 76, placed second in his age division with his time of 25:26.   The Bella N Motion W40 team placed sixth in their division.

We’re not done yet and I may have saved the best for last.  Nora Cary of Morristown, now age 62, won her age division in 20:33 and hit 92.46 % PLP and was ranked fifth in age grading.  Cary’s name sticks out in that file like a sore thumb.  All the other high-ranking women are well known in masters running, but Cary mostly races close to home here in New Jersey.  In 2016 she finished this race in 20:30 where she was ranked sixth with a 91:54% PLP. 

It is a little hard to follow such an outstanding performance but Madeline Bost of Randolph won her age division in 34:57. Others who raced from this area include Roger Price of Randolph, Susan Stirrat and Robert Skorupski both of Rockaway and Joel Garrell of Morristown.  

Even the women’s masters winner has a connection to New Jersey.  Sascha Scott, 42, now of Syracuse resided in New Brunswick a dozen or more years ago and was a member of the Raritan Valley Road Runners where she was their top runner.  She won the race in 17:50.

MILLIE’S RUN

Back here at home in Madison a large field turned out for the Millie’s Pizza 10K on Sunday.  Karl O’Reilly of Morristown won the race in 35:07 with Gary Rosenberg, also of Morristown second in 37:09.  Victoria Pontecoruo of Morristown was the women’s winner in 41:21

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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

Shades of Death Road in Allamuchy location of half marathon

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

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

Warm weather no deterrent to fast times in half marathon championship

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, September 24, 2017

WARM WEATHER NO DETERRENT TO FAST TIMES IN HALF MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP

Warm weather did not keep the runners away from the Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon last Sunday in Jersey City.  The hot weather also did not appear to have slowed the runners down.  In 2016 Will Appman of Hoboken won the race in 1:14.21.  Last Sunday Appman finished the race in 1:13:35 and place fourth overall!  Joshua Izewski of Doylestown PA won the race in 1:11:46 with Lucas Giugliano of Sparta second in 1:12:13.

The women’s race was won by Japanese runner Sairi Maeda who finished third overall in 1:12:48, a dozen minutes ahead of second place woman Brianna Feerst of Brick. 

Maeda finished one second ahead of fourth place man, Japanese runner Takashi Kakimoto.

Was Maeda being paced by Kakimoto?  Likely. But Kakimoto was a legitimate runner.  As long as he was legally entered in the race and wearing a bib number he can run at any pace he wants. 

Spectators reported that Izewski and Giugliano ran together for most of the race and that Maeda ran a smart race, not rushing but back several places through the early part of the race before picking off other runners.  It is highly likely that Izewski and Giugliano knew they were being run down by a woman and were motivated to not be caught, thus resulting in their fast times. 

The astonishing 52-year-old Brian Crowley of Hillsborough finished in seventh place overall in 1:14:42 which put him at the top of the Age Grade list with an 88.67% PLP.  Reno Stirrat,63 of Rockaway finished in 1:27:52 to claim second in age grading at 83:51.  On the masters women side Nora Cary, 62, of Morristown finished in 1:39:02 for a PLP of 87.32 % PLP.

The Garden State Track Club won the open men’s division in the team competition but the Garmin runners placed second with a fine performance by Stuart Haynes, 41, of Chatham who placed ninth overall in 1:14:54.  Garden State took the next three spots.

With Crowley on the M40 team along with Haynes the Garmin M40 team averaged 1:18:33 for first in their division.

In the women’s team division, the Clifton Road Runners placed first in the open division and first in the W40.  Local runners helped their teams to win the W50 division.  Cary was on the winning North Jersey Masters team, and Mary Christian and Susan Kinsella were on the second place Garmin team.  Cary lead in the winning North Jersey W60 team.

OPEN WOMEN 5K IN LITTLE SILVER NEXT WEEK

Open women have the next championship to run.  They’ll be sorry if they missed the deadline for the $32.00 entry fee.  It is now up at $40.00.

It’s the Little Silver 5K.  Long Distance Running chair Ed Neighbour of Sparta has given the race a thumbs up to his Morris County Striders teammates.  In an email to the club members he wrote, “Consider running this event.  The race has an excellent post race at the firehouse with lots of food and assorted beer and wine.”

Before the food, beer and wine he told them, “Great course with 5 turns and finishes on the track.”

Morris area runners who want to stay closer to home can run in the Millie’s Pizza Run 10K in Madison.  The 10K is a loop course that starts and finishes at Bayley Ellard and appears to run around but not in the Giralda Farms corporate complex bordered by Madison Avenue, Treadwell Avenue, Woodland Avenue and Loantaka Way.  The start is a 11:00 a.m.; late enough to make a post-race pizza slice enticing.

In addition to pizza, for USATF grand prix racers the 10K is a 500-point New Balance Grand Prix event.

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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

Garmin Grand Prix Standing

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, September 17, 2017

GARMIN CLUB AND TEAM GRAND PRIX STANDINGS

The USATF Garmin sponsored club and team grand prix was updated this week.  To no one’s surprise the Garden State Track Club has a substantial lead, thanks in part to the mile championship in August as well as the cross country championship at Natirar Park where they fielded several strong open teams.

The club has 470 points with the Clifton Road Runners next with 395 and the Shore Athletic Club in third with 351 points.

The Garden State open men and women’s teams also have the lead in those divisions.  Their men’s B, A and C teams have the top three spots in that order. The women are in first in their division but the Shore team is in second and Clifton third.

The Clifton women are on a roll with their W40 and W60 teams in first place and tied with the North Jersey Masters women in the W50.  The Garmin Women are second in W40 and third in W50. 

Thanks to the merger for racing purposes with the Morris area Do Run Runners, the North Jersey Masters club is second in W60 and First in the W70 division.  The Morris County Striders that had until this year been unchallenged in the W70 division  have been pushed down to second and third in the W70 division.  They still reign supreme in the W80 division.

The Garmin M40 team is in first place with the Garden State team in second.  The places are reversed in the M50 division with the Garden State team holding first place while the Garmin team is tied with the North Jersey Masters for second.  The North Jersey Masters are in second place in the M60 division with the Shore club in first.  Clifton is first in the M70 while the North Jersey Masters are in second place.

Local clubs like the Morris County Striders, the Rose City Runners and the Geezers are competing but are not in the top five in any of the divisions.  Counting B and C, and in the case of Garden State even below C teams, a total 26 teams so far year this have competed in at least one championship race.

This morning all of the clubs are racing at the Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon in Jersey City.  How they do will determine how the numbers will change.  The preregistered number of runners as posted on Friday is down slightly from 2016 when 3,140 runners had registered.  This year’s number is 2,957, although a handful of duplicate entries had been spotted in the list. 

ENTHUSIASM COUNTS

The Morris County Striders club may not be the fastest in the state, but what they lack in speed they possess in team spirit.  It has been reported that the club was the largest club to compete in Sparta on Labor Day weekend and again at the Netcong 5K this past weekend as they have been in previous years at Netcong.

David Lerman of Hopatcong won the race in 17:41 while Corine Macaluso of Hopatcong won the women’s race in 21:12.  Both also won the 2016 race.

Randolph’s Roberta Groner showed she has quite a range this month.  Groner placed tenth in the National 20K in New Haven CT on September 4th in 1:10:05.  Last Sunday she finished the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York in 4:51. 

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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

Cross Country Triple Tie

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, September 3, 2017

RUNNING COLUMN for the DAILY RECORD

For Sunday, September 3,, 2017

By MADELINE BOST,  973-584-9302

CROSS COUNTRY TRIPLE

The USATF NJ cross country meet that was held last Sunday had a rare tie in the open men’s division.  The Garden State Track Club’s C team placed first.  No surprise there, the club has a large roster of fast young runners.  No, the surprise was the three-way tie for second for their B, A and D teams.  Ties in cross country are not uncommon as the points are assigned by place rather than time, but a three way tie is much rarer.  The Shore Athletic Club took fourth with the Garmin Runners taking sixth out of thirteen teams. 

The Garmin M40 A team won that division, with the Garden State team taking second and the Shore team in third.  The Garmin M50 team also won their division with the Shore in second and the Garden State team in third.   Yes, there were other teams competing but were shut out by those three hot clubs; thirteen open men’s teams, eight M40, and ten M50.

Fourteen  teams competed in the M60 division and six in the M70.  Those divisions require only  three runners to make up a scoring team.  The Shore club took advantage of having a larger squad requiring fewer runners and scored first and second in the M60 division.  Their B team scored 17 points to their A team at 18.  The North Jersey Masters took third.  Clifton won the M70 team division with the Shore team in second and the North Jersey Masters in third.

If the Shore Athletic Club’s open women’s team had not raced, the Garden State women’s teams would have swept that division’s top spots, but the Shore team grabbed second while the Garden State teams placed first, third and fourth.  The Garmin team placed fifth out of ten teams.

The Garmin women were on top in the W40 division, with Clifton second by just one point, with the Garden State team in third out of eleven teams.  The W50 division was the same for the first two spots, with the Shore team taking third.  The Shore team was first in the W60 division with Raritan Valley in second and Clifton in third.

The race was won  by Garden State’s Matt Gillette of Orefield PA in 16:08 and on the women’s side by Emily Rosario of Brooklyn NY in 19:09.

Elena Rozhko of Morristown was the top masters woman to finish and second woman overall in 19:20.   Suzanne LaBurt, 54, of Greenwood Lake NY was the top age graded woman with a 85.10% PLP for her time of 20:17.  Nora Cary, 62, of Morristown was second with an 84.88% PLP for her time of 22:22.  Mary Christian of Flanders and Rozhko were third and fourth in Age Grading.

Brian Crowley, 52,  of Hillsborough topped the men’s age graded chart with an  86.01% for his 17:24.   Reno Stirrat, 63, of Rockaway was next with an 84.47% on his 19:22, and Gary Leaman, 58, of Hardwick finished in 18:50 for an 83.34% PLP.

Labor Day is a day of rest, but for a runner it is a good day to find a Labor Day race to run in and get a start on the fall racing season.  

Verona has hosted their Labor Day Classic 5K for 35 years.  They must be doing something right.  It helps that the Essex Running Club is a co-host of race.  The description states that the course is fast but makes no claim to be flat.  It is an out-and-back course with a cone turn-around and a few corners to navigate.

Pre-registration is closed but race day registration fee is only $25.00.   Age divisions are in five years and go up to 85 +.   The top three in those age divisions win gift certificates to shop at the Fleet Feet store in Montclair.  Top overall man and woman get one better -  free shoes!

Lake Mohawk is the featured site for the Labor Day 5K in Sparta.  If you don’t like to run around corners this is the course to run.  It is a straight out-and-back with the only turn the cone turn-around. It is described as flat with some rolling hills. 

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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

Run on the wild side

RUNNING COLUMN for the DAILY RECORD

on Sunday, August 20, 2017

RUN ON THE WILD SIDE

They say you can't go home again, but I sometimes think it is not true.   I grew up on an island in Washington state and when I return, as I do every year, I feel like I am home again.  In my youth I was not a runner.  Occasionally I would slip off the back of my horse and run along side  her on the hidden logging road in the woods not far from my home.   

Every year I make sure to run on that old logging road at least once, in memory of Candy, the lovely palomino who loved to race, to swim in a farm pond, and to patiently trot along side me when I got the urge to run.

The trail has changed since Candy and I were the rare riders of the trail.  The old road has been partially paved to accommodate the scattered homes in the woods now.  The pavement ends at a sharp 180 degree turn where a sign warns ominously, "No Turnaround Beyond this Point."   

What is a fun old road to run or ride on is a "no-go"  for cars, with serious potholes and extreme dips and climbs.  On that stretch it is easy to get lost in the stillness of the woods and to feel blissfully alone.   I came out of my reverie when I remembered that the cougar that had been feeding on the livestock on the small farms on the island, and not the numerous deer also inhabiting it, could actually be lurking in those very woods.  

When I emerged from the woods and back onto the paved road that would lead me home, it was with a little sigh of relief that I had not met up with the animal, also known as mountain lion, or catamount.  I learned later that the cougar had killed two donkeys in the same area as my run that day. 

 A trap was set and the animal was lured with one of the donkey carcasses and it was killed, deemed too much of a danger for the island livestock.  I can breathe easy when I next go on that run although sad that the cougar had not stayed with a deer menu and kept away from sheep, goats and donkeys.

Natirar Park in Somerset has never reported sightings of cougars, mountain lions, or catamounts.  More likely it will see  runners racing on the cross country course that winds around and through the park.  On Sunday, August 27th, the runners will be onUSATF teams  in the state 5K cross  country championship. 

 The Natirar course features an easy flat run interspersed with two extreme hills that some love and others hate.  Young runners charge up those hills and fly down like a herd of deer running from, well, cougars, I suppose.  The race will start at a cool 8:45 a.m.

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Madeline Bost
madelinebost@verizon.net