Run Indoors at the Bennett Center next Sunday in Toms River
Some runners will be getting a break from this wintry weather next Sunday at the USATF-NJ Open and Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Bennett Center in Toms River. Despite my nudging, and outright badgering, only a handful of road runners venture into the world of track and field each year. It is a shame, as racing on an indoor track has a lot going for it. For one thing, the course is always flat. For another, there is no weather concerns – no wind, rain, or snow. Look out the window and you can see that you can’t find that right now in New Jersey. The meet offers the metric mile distance of 1,500 meters, and what can be construed as a “short” 5K, the 3,000 meter run. Standard indoor tracks are 200 meters, so for the 1,500 you will make seven and a half laps of the track. You’ll go around 15 times for the 3,000 meter run. Someone will be counting laps for you, and will tell you what lap you are on as you go past the finish line each trip. Local runners who made the switch in 2009 include Montville’s Randy Miller. Actually Miller has been a track racer for several years now, as well as a road racer. He once told me that he tried track after reading my urgings in this column. Miller entered the 3,000 as did Lori McGill of Budd Lake. Charlie Castiglioni of Lake Hopatcong and McGill morphed into sprinters and entered the 200 meter dash. Tom Metz of Rockaway and Angelo Harasts of Pine Brook both road racers who like to run track, entered the 1,500 as did Castiglioni. Those three also entered the 800 meter run. |
New Jersey athletes will predominate along with a strong contingent of Pennsylvania athletes, especially members of the Philadelphia Masters. Ninety year old Bill Benson of Long Island has entered and hopes to set an age division record in the 1,500 meters.
Pre-entry discounts will end tomorrow, February 15th. Entry can be done on-line at the track & field page of USATF-NJ. Day of meet entries will be accepted beginning at 10:50 a.m. Events close one hour before the event is scheduled. The Men’s 3,000 meter is schedule to begin at 1:10 p.m. The women’s 3,000 meter run is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.
The application is in the winter edition of the USATF New Jersey newsmagazine or is available on the association website.
SHOES FOR HAITI DROP OFF IN CHESTER
I swung by the Foot Solutions store in the Shoprite Mall in Chester earlier this week to order a new pair of loafers that comfortably accommodate my bunions. Plastered in the store front window was a huge sign “Shoes for Haiti”. Inside, in one corner of the shop were large garbage bags filled, as shop owner Michael Topeka told me, shoes that he has been collecting for the people of Haiti.
But how do you get them from Chester New Jersey to Haiti I asked him. It seems like a bigger task than actually collecting the shoes I thought.
Not so. Topeka and his Foot Solutions store are the collection point for donated shoes, but from there the task is taken over by a non-profit organization Soles4Souls. The organization was born after the 2004 tsunami hit Southeast Asia when the now CEO of Soles4Souls, Wayne Elsey, saw a need and set out to fill it. A quarter of a million shoes were sent to the region. When Hurricane Katrina devastated our gulf coast over a million shoes were sent to the victims. The organization has sent the donated footwear to countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Swaziland, Uganda, Thailand, to name a few, as well as Haiti.
Right now though, the focus is on sending shoes to Haiti. Topeka accepts shoes of all kinds, from kid’s shoes, to adult dress and casual shoes and here’s where runners come in - sneakers.
Topeka told me that some area churches have been collecting shoes. If they can’t get them to Chester he has a van that will go after them. So if you felt that donating cash to one of the many relief organizations for Haiti relief seemed so impersonal, cleaning out the family closets of unused shoes may be the answer.
Foot Solutions is located in the far left hand corner of the mall, right next to the Chester Xercise fitness center. Topeka can be reached at 908-879-7300.
Originally published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey on February 14, 2010
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2010