MITCHELL LEADS RUNNING COMPANY TO VICTORY IN CORPORATE CHALLENGE
MORRISTOWN – From a field of three thousand runners four men on one team finished first, second, fifth and sixth to nail the men’s team title at the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge Thursday night. Gene Mitchell of Franklin Lakes lead his Running Company squad to the victory, with John Honerkamp of New York taking second, Brian Harris of Somerville fifth and Gary Rosenberg of Boonton sixth. In third was Joe Wiegner, of Warminster, Pennsylvania, running for Verizon and fourth was previous winner, Mike Spence of East Stroudsburg, running for International Business Research.
Spence took the lead at the start and the others quickly formed a lead pack as the field headed down Speedwell Avenue from the Headquarters Plaza at 7:30 p.m.
By the first mile, which they hit in under five minutes the pack had narrowed to Spence, Mitchell, Wiegner and Honerkamp.
“There was a group of four of us that were pretty tough through two and a half,” said Mitchell, who has won the Pfizer United Way 5K for the last two years. “I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave anything out on the back end of the course, because if it came down to a finishing kick I probably would have ended up fourth.”
“Approaching the three mile mark I just went all out and tried to hang on and it paid off,” said Mitchell, whose winning time was 17:22 for the three and a half mile race.
Honerkamp, who has impressive 800 meter marks, used his leg speed to capture second place.
“I was about fourth with a half mile to go and I was able to reel two guys in.”
Wiegner, who is a training coach at the Verizon Wireless health and wellness center in Warren, had stayed with Mitchell after Honerkamp and Spence were dropped.
“I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know the runners around here,” said Wiegner. “Around two miles I thought I had a good chance of winning the thing and then Mitchell took off.”
As they neared the finish, Honerkamp sped by Wiegner to take second. Spence also ran him down, but Wiegner was able to fight him off to retake third place.
“It was really competitive,” said Wiegner. “Real good runners. I was happy to run with them.”
Christa Downey of Rochester New York, running for GlaxoSmithKline, won the race in Rochester earlier this year and made it two in a row with her win Thursday night. Like many who have not run in Morristown before, she found the hilly course difficult.
“About halfway through, I said , ‘oh boy, this is not easy’,” she said. “But you stick it out and the time goes by quick. The cheering helps.”
Second place woman, Bonnie Linton of Hackettstown, running for Onyz, has been a top placer each year at the Morristown race and is sanguine about how the race unfolded.
“There’s always this one person that comes out and surprises me,” said Linton. “I wasn’t really surprised tonight. I told myself ‘don’t go crazy to catch the first person, just run your own race.’”
Jennifer Curly, last years winner, as Jennifer Hart, was third.
TOP FINISHERS
1. Gene Mitchell Running Company Franklin Lakes 17:22
2. John Honerkamp Running Company New York 17:33
3. Joe Wiegner Verizon Wireless Warminster, PA 17:36
4. Mike Spence Inter. Business Research East Stroudsburg, PA 17:36
5. Brian Harris Running Company Somerville 18:16
6. Gary Rosenberg Running Company Boonton 18:31
1. Christa Downey GlaxoSmithKline Rochester, NY 20:07
2. Bonnie Linton Onyx Hackettstown 20:44
3. Jennifer Curly Merck Titusville 20:52
4. Janelle Thomas Johnson & Johnson Chaltfont, PA 21:29
5. Heather Gardiner Running Company Morristown 21:29
Originally Published in the DAILY RECORD of Morris County on July 22, 2005
Copyright Madeline Bost, 2005