SUMMER SCREECHER 5K: TRAIL RACE WITH A TWIST
When Dave Hoch of East Brunswick, who organizes races under the banner of Runners Mecca, puts together a race, runners can be assured of one thing. It will always have at least one thing unique to set it apart.
This coming Saturday, the inaugural Summer Screecher 5K at Lewis Morris Park will feature four and a half hours of a live folk festival.
The headline act is Hegel, Cole and Friends, whose music ranges from folk rock, blue grass, country and classic rock. In addition will be runners, like Ray Schick of Califon who will surprise his running peers with his country blues singing. Music will begin at 2:00 p.m., two hours before the 4:00 race start, and will continue through the post race party that will feature food along with cold beer for the legal age runners. It may help the runners to recover from the hilly course that Hoch will have put them on.
“I don’t have races without hills,” said Hoch, who also organizes the Morris Mauler that takes place at a different location in Lewis Morris Park.
“The screecher will not be as hilly as the Mauler,” said Hoch. “But I would say it’s going to be around a 6.5 on the hillometer chart.”
The hillometer chart is a Hoch invention that serves to gauge the difficulty of a particular hill. Ten is the ultimate extreme score.
The Morris Mauler is now 9.1,” he said. “It started as an 8.7 but it grew to a 9.1 because I increased the intensity of it.”
Saturday’s Screecher course will be different than the Mauler, as it will begin and end at the gazebo at Sunrise Lake, where the Morris County Striders held their summer series races for two years. Be aware though that the Screecher will not use that course. It is a trail race utilizing only a small portion of roads for the start to string out the field before the runners head into the woods.
Hoch has a unique t-shirt distribution system for his races. His shirts are never white, and the runners have their choice of colors, on a first come, first served basis. This has encouraged people to come early to insure that they can have their choice before a color runs out.
The first two Maulers had the usual pattern of late arrivers, some checking in with only 15 minutes to spare. Now, knowing that their favorite color might be gone, the picture has changed.
“At the last two Maulers almost no one arrived in the last 30 minutes because they want first choice of shirts,” said Hoch. “Certain colors will run out and if people get there in the last 40 minutes they won’t get their choice of colors.”
But what if you have run in more than one or two Maulers? Hoch has that covered too. If you have done the Mauler three times, you are allowed to upgrade to a black or red shirt that has been custom made and are slightly different and more artistic. Hoch will sell one of the first-timers shirts, but the red and black shirts are not for sale. You have to earn them.
“Once you’ve been five times we’re going to a collared or long sleeved shirt, so they are going to work up to it,” said Hoch. “It’s like a status symbol.”
Hoch has seen how division winners were sometimes given special unique shirts but he wants to look out for the loyal runners who don’t make it to the winners stand.
“The people who come and support my races, five or six times can have any shirt on the rack,” he said. “I give them anything they want.”
That could include shirts from the Trail Series that Hoch has held at Allaire State Park in past years, if they already have the status Mauler shirt.
The same system will be used for the Screecher shirts, although they will be entirely different. The choice will be tangerine or lime green.
Hoch also approached the scheduling of the twice-yearly Mauler with a unique twist.
“The bear comes out in the spring, and goes into hibernation in the fall,” he said. “Why don’t I do it twice in the year.”
Thus the Spring Mauler that was held on Sunday, June 4th and the Hibernation Mauler that is scheduled for Saturday, November 4th. By having the Mauler once on a Saturday and once on a Sunday, everybody has a chance to run in one.
The Morris Mauler races have become so popular that the November Mauler will have pre-entry only. The Screecher has not closed as yet but will cap at 250 runners.
In addition to the races at Lewis Morris Park, Hoch’s Runner’s Mecca has plans for a 15K on Saturday, December 2nd , in Johnson Park in Piscataway and the Fat Boy 5K in Madison is waiting for approvals. It would be on December 23rd, and the fat boy could be a running Santa Claus, but the name is actually from the sponsor, a sub and salad shop of that name in Madison.
Hoch has hinted of a third Mauler that would use a handicapped start to set it apart and he may bring back his Snowflake series races. For more information about the Summer Screecher, check it out at www.runnersmecca.com.
Originally p ublished in the Daily Record of Morris County, New Jersey, Sunday, August 3, 2006
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2006
