Madeline Bost's Running Column

Yesterday's St. Patty's Day 5K was the first of a handful of races with a Saint Patrick's Day theme.  One of those is the Saint Paddy's ten mile race hosted by the Freehold Area Running Club that will take place next Sunday at Michael Tighe Park in Freehold.   Ordinarily this race might not get much attention from runners this far north but this year the race is the USATF-NJ ten mile championship, which means that a large contingent of runners will be heading south for the race.

Some of those will be members of the local teams as this will be the first team competition of the year and encompassing all divisions, Open men and women, and Masters men and women.

Speaking for the Sneaker Factory club, Andy Vogel of East Hanover says that the club is sending a good number of members to the race.

"They are using it for a tune-up for a spring marathon," said Vogel, of many on the team. Vogel sees their best strength in the Men 40 division with Kevin Devine of Basking Ridge, Paul Buccino of Westfield and newly turned forty, John Sabatino of Cedar Knolls leading the charge.

The Morris County Striders will have a full contingent at the race.  Team Captain Charlie Castiglioni of Lake Hopatcong will have a solid Men 40 team but his aim is to see the club's M50 team do battle successfully against perennial rivals Raritan Valley Road Runners in 2007.

"I'd like to see our fifties team win this year," he said.  "We've got the talent.  I wish we could be a little bit more fortuitous."

"I don't know how to put it better.  We get it together and then somebody gets hurt," said Castiglioni.   "We could win.  Winning isn't everything, but that's a doable goal for those guys.  Not to mention that we have two new fifties members, (Will DeRoberts and Steve Fisher, both of Boonton) and that should help us even more.  I don't know what Raritan Valley has, but I expect that to be an interesting rivalry this year."

It isn't all about the men, of course.  Sneaker Factory and Morris County will have Open and Masters women teams.  In 2006 the Sneaker Factory scored ahead of the Striders in the Open and W40 divisions while Morris County held their own in the senior divisions, with Sneaker Factory not a factor. Things can change with the new season so the ten mile race will be revealing a lot about the strengths of the various clubs on both the men and women's sides.

Not to be forgotten is that the championship is the first 700 point New Balance Grand Prix race.  Both the men and women's winners in 2006, Jean Pare of Mendham and Ben Reynolds of Chatham were from this area.  They can be expected to be at the kick-off race of the season.

A notice has been posted that due to the expected increase in runners attending the race the start time for the ten mile race has been pushed back to 10:30 a.m. with the 5K race starting at 10:45 a.m.   Runners parking in the Michael Tighe Park will be unable to leave while runners are finishing. Those runners who need to leave before the park road is cleared of slower finishing runners should park in the nearby side roads off Georgia Road and then walk into the park to register or pick up their number.

One last note, Vogel, of the Sneaker Factory said that their members have been reminded that the St. Paddy's has a draw that is difficult for runners to resist - free beer to all contestants (of legal age) along with the picnic style fare of hot dogs and other munchies after the race.

LEPRECHAUN LEAP 5K ALSO NEXT SUNDAY

While some runners will be traveling to Freehold next Sunday, others will be staying in their own back-yard to race at the Leprechaun Leap 5K at the International Trade Center in Mt Olive.  This year marks the tenth year for the race, which offers prizes for the best St. Patrick's Day costume and prizes selected at random.

These runners can sleep in as the race starts at 1:00 p.m.  More information can be found at www.ITCAevents.org or call 973-347-3088.  *******  Look for race results at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com.

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.