ON MONDAY NIGHTS, ARE YOU READY FOR SOME RUNNING?
Football has its Monday Night game of the week and in this area, running has its own line-up of Monday night competitions. First on the schedule is tomorrow nights Merry Heart 5K in Succasunna, Roxbury Township.
The race is celebrating its ten year anniversary by moving to chip timing to better accommodate the dense finish from the expected five hundred plus runners. In 2004 construction at the Eisenhower Middle School from where the race is staged forced the finish line onto the wide lawn in front of the school. The new finish was such a hit that it has now been made official with a complete re-measuring and re-certification of the course. Nothing else has changed and the course will still be one of the fastest 5K’s in the county, if not the state.
Pre-registration is still open up to midnight tonight by going to www.compuscore.com and clicking on the link to active.com’s on-line registration.
Morris Township is the location of the following Monday night race on June 13th. New in 2004, the 5,000 Strides has moved from Loantaka Park on South Street to Ginty Field on Woodland Avenue next to the Morris Township police headquarters. The course will be the same as that used by the Country Squire 5K that takes place in September.
The granddaddy of all night races, the President’s Cup 5K in Millburn is the following Monday night, June 20th. While not a Morris area race, the distinction is lost as area runners will flock to the race, drawn by the fast course, and fast competition in all divisions although it is only the USATF-NJ championship in the Open Men division. The late start and the party atmosphere afterward add to its allure.
Missing from the line-up the following Monday night is the Roseland CPA 5K, which is not being held this year. Night-race loving runners can be consoled that week, though as the Sunset Classic five mile race will be held on Thursday evening, June 30th in Bloomfield.
NEXT WEEKEND ANOTHER BUSY ONE
Races to note coming up this next weekend has one not taking place in Morris county but all the way east in Jersey City. The Newport 10,000 on Saturday is the only non-championship race in the New Balance Grand Prix line-up that carries a high point value of 700. The top elite New Jersey teams will vie for the chance to win one thousand dollars in travel money to go to the USATF National Club Cross Country Championship races in Rochester New York in November.
It will be a unique arrangement for the club teams as each team will submit rosters for only one male and one female team with an unlimited number of entrants on each team. The top five finishers will score for their club.
To sweeten the pot for the clubs, teams that have the greatest number of finishers will win special awards. This was a sleeper of a race in 2004 and won high praise from those who did run.
Three local races are also on the schedule for Saturday; the Fishawack Four Mile Run in Chatham, the Sparta Day Run Around Lake Mohawk 8 Mile and new this year, the Relay for Life 5K run in Basking Ridge.
On Sunday, the 12th is the Garden State Athletic Club’s Track & Field meet in Randolph. For those looking for a Category II grand prix race, they can head out to Warren County for the first year, Mountain Top 10K.
Compared to the weekend coming up, the William & Teresa Wright Memorial 5K in Randolph on Saturday June 18th is sitting pretty with no competition. Sure, the President’s Cup is that following Monday but most runners can recover from a Saturday morning race and be ready to race again on Monday night.
Originally published in the DAILY RECORD of Morris County on June 5, 2005.
Copyright Madeline Bost 2005