MORRIS COUNTY STRIDERS FIND A HOME FOR SUMMER SERIES IN BOONTON TOWNSHIP
The Morris County Striders have found a home for their popular Summer Series of 5K races. After the 9/11 terror attacks, Picatinny Arsenal, where the series had been held, tightened security and the race had to move. The arsenal, with its out-of-the-way sportsmen’s cabin and nearly traffic-less roads was hard to replace.
The Morris County Parks Commission graciously allowed the club to hold the races at Lewis Morris Park but the course was less than satisfying. Although the park has plenty of trails, they are very challenging. So trails were out and that limited the course to a triple loop around Sunrise Lake.
Each loop included a steep hill up to the parking lot and an equally steep decline back to the level of the lake. Not only was the change of elevation daunting for some of the runners, but counting their laps was too, especially for the younger kids. Some of them set amazing age division bests until it was realized that they had gone into the finish a lap too soon.
Race director Ken Baker of Towaco was delighted to learn that Striders Steve and Eva Fisher of Boonton had mapped out a course at Johanson Field in Boonton Township.
“We wanted to have a course that was a true 5 kilometer course that didn’t involve running up and down mountains,” said Baker. “We wanted a course that was flat and fast and beautiful.”
The next step was to receive permission to hold the race series at the park, which is where the club’s Run for Life has been held in recent years.
“The people in Boonton Township and the Recreation Department were welcoming and very supportive of us and to allow us full run of their property,” said Baker.
“It’s going to be a very scenic course and it should be a fast course,” he said. “They’re not going to have to go around and around in circles like last year.”
Last weekend Steve Fisher, Baker, and Will DeRoberts of Boonton finalized the course.
“Steve had scouted it out and it looked good,” said Baker. “All we had to do was tweak one place where you repeat part of the course. We had to tweak that to get it as close to 5 kilometers as we could.”
“Other than that one half mile repeat it’s mostly original territory because you’re going on the perimeter of this huge field,” he said.
To draw the course map, Baker used satellite imagery and was surprised by what it revealed about the field whose perimeter the course was following.
“I looked at it and I saw this long rectangle and I realized that it used to be a runway,” he said.
Baker, who has been a member of the Striders since 1997 is excited about the course and reminisced about others like it.
“This cross country course brought back memories of great high school cross country courses that I’ve been on,” said Baker who went to Tenafly High School in Bergen County.
“Our home course was pretty much that flat because the town that I lived in had a long valley, called the northern valley, between the mountain on the Palisades and the next mountain,” said Baker. “This course is at the bottom of the Rockaway Valley so there is similarity there.”
Baker is confident that the race will draw more runners and that will include local people. The Boonton Recreation Department has distributed race flyers to the schools in Boonton Township, Boonton and Mountain Lakes.
Four races are scheduled beginning with the first on Tuesday evening, July 5th. All are on Tuesdays, with the rest on the 19th of July and then on August 2nd and 9th. Runners who compete in at least three of the races will be scored in the series for recognition at the final race in August.
Runners can save some money by pre-registering. As has always been the case, no t-shirts are given out and the low race fees reflect that. Pizza is provided to all runners after the race. Day of race registration begins at 5:30 p.m. with the start at 7:00 p.m.
More information can be found on the application, which is available at www.morriscountystriders.com or by calling 973-263-5529.
PRESIDENT’S CUP NIGHT RACE WAS THE BIGGEST EVER
Monday night was cool and crisp – perfect for a summer night race, as the turnout and the speeds attest. Over 500 people showed up to post enter at the President’s Cup Night Race 5K in Millburn, and they along with the one thousand plus who had already registered brought the total registered runners to well over 1,500. Officially the number of finishers who were wearing their assigned ChampionChip was 1,378.
Stephen Ondieki of Hackensack out kicked Gene Mitchell of Franklin Lakes to win in 14:51 to Mitchell’s 14:54. Julie Culley of Lebanon had no challengers and easily won the women’s race in 16:54. Cathy Grote of Bernardsville placed fourth in 17:45 and Heather Gardiner of Morristown was ninth in 18:48. The first local man was Ken Goglas of Randolph who finished in 15:27 for eleventh place.
Originally published in the DAILY RECORD of Morris County on Sunday, June 26, 2005
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2005.