CHAMPIONSHIP SELECTIONS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED
The list of the 2007 Championship races has been posted on the USATF-New Jersey website and as is true every year, there are some old, some new and some surprises.
Not many will remember, but the Freehold Area Running Club's ten mile St. Paddy's Day race was once the association's championship, back when the long distance running grand prix was first started in the early 90's.
So this is more a return engagement than new. The race has many fans for being well organized, on an interesting course, with a great post race party including hot dogs and cold beer for the runners. It will open the season on Sunday, March 18th.
A month later, on April 29th will be the Run for Rachel 5K in Livingston, which was selected as the Open Women's championship. That is clearly a return engagement as the Run for Rachel has shown it can put on a successful women's championship.
Another favorite in the lineup is the May 6th Our House five mile race in Summit. Again it will be the Masters Men and Women championship.
The Newport 10,000, has positioned itself as an elite, high performance 10K with a generous purse that has attracted elite runners from outside the state. In 2007 it will have a separate purse for the New Jersey men and women as it will host the Open Men and Women's 10K championship on May 12th.
Combining the two divisions is a departure for the LDR committee that seeks to draw the top open men and women to one race. There will now be only four road championships in Category Two in the grand prix, with one cross country race.
Two favorites make up the next two races in the line-up. The Ridgewood Run 10K on Memorial Day, May 28th will host the Masters Men and Women championship. Monday, June 18th will be the Open Men's 5K at the President's Cup Night Race in Millburn.
Brand new as a championship is the Pine Beach 5K on June 24th. It will host both the Masters Men and Masters Women. After only a few years when the two divisions were split, the committee felt that putting the two back together would better serve the runners and teams. Thus, there will now be only three road championships in Category One in the grand prix.
The Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon in Jersey City opens the fall championship season as it returns to the September calendar on the 23rd. As has been customary for the past several years it will host all divisions.
October will be cross country month as both the two association championships will take place during the month at sites and on dates yet to be finalized. Most likely the 5K will be on the 7th and the 8K on the 28th.
Open Men and Women will race again in the Ashenfelter 8K, on Thanksgiving morning, November 22nd in Glen Ridge.
The season ender will be the USATF-NJ championship on Sunday, December 9th. No, not ten mile, but rather 15K, at Mercer County Park.
THANKSGIVING DAY SURPRISES
Cold, wind, rain. It can't get any worse than that for a run. Well, maybe Mother Nature could have thrown in some ice. But as it was, this past Thursday morning was the kind of day you pull the covers over your head and stay in bed.
Now don't peek - what would you expect the drop off rate to be for the Thanksgiving morning races? Fifty percent? Forty percent? Well, at least 25%, right? You'll be as shocked as I was when I checked the CompuScore website Thursday afternoon. The Dick Meighan Memorial 5K in Upper Saddle River was down by 82 finishers, or 8%, the Ashenfelter 5K was down by 67 runners, or 6% and the Flemington Turkey Trot was down by a mere 19 runners - just one percent of the previous year - 1,605 to this year 1,586, an average of five percent for the three races. Go figure.
Joe Jacobs of Blomingdale won the Ashenfelter 8K with his time of 25:42 and Jennifer Malavolta of Reeders PA the women's winner in 28:56. All of the race results can be found at www.compuscore.com.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we'll look at how the individual and team grand prix are shaping up as the racers face the final championship of the season on December 10th. Some are a sure bet and others are still nail biters.
Originally p ublished in the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey on Sunday, November 26, 2006
Copyright, MADELINE BOST, 2006
