PRESIDENT’S CUP NIGHT RACE WILL BE AN AFTERNOON RACE THIS YEAR
Well you can’t expect things to not change in forty years. The first year that the President’s Cup Night Race was run it started at the Milburn high school and it was a 10K. In 2019 it will start on Milburn Avenue instead of Essex and all activities will be at the Investor’s Bank parking lot. Oh, and it will not be on Monday night, but this Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. so no longer a “night” race. https://runsignup.com/Race/NJ/Millburn/InvestorsBankPresidentsCupNightRace
“Some things have not changed,” said Dean Shonts, the race’s original director. “Sam Adams is going to be there,” said Shonts, referring to the famous Sam Adams beer truck. “The bank’s parking lot will be blocked off, and they will have a band and a bouncy house for the kids.”
Shonts will be in Millburn for the race, a trip he makes often from his home in Neptune where he lives with his wife Betty.
Attendance had gone down in recent years for the race that at one time drew 1,400 to 1,500 runners. The Millburn-Shorthills Chamber of Commerce is hoping that with a new location and a Sunday instead of a Monday night that runners will come back. It will help that the race is the open men’s USATF New Jersey championship.
Although the location has moved from the Charley Brown’s restaurant on Essex, it is the same course as in years past. It is just the start and finish that has changed, Now runners will start on Millburn and close to Main Street where the race used to start on Essex. They will head east and up the hill they used to encounter in their first mile. Now it will be within the first quarter mile. The finish will be a block or so past the start line.
With a changed course that is essentially not changed it will be very interesting to see if the times will be faster or slower. Another thing – all runners who win their age division will be setting new course records. Collin Frost of Randolph won the race in 2018 in 15:23 in a relatively slow time for the race.
The race is known for attracting speedsters, especially when it has been the men’s championship with team competition.
I’ve kept an unofficial chart of the fastest times run on the course since 1999. Those listed below are the fastest men with times under 15 minutes. It’s quite an impressive list.
President’s Cup Night Race 5K performances under 15 minutes since 1999
By fastest time
1 Gene Mitchell 14:34 2003
2 Mark Nichol 14:37 2003
3 Jackson Kipng’ok 14:38 2003
Chris Pannone 14:38 2009
4 Justin Scheid 14:42 2009
5 Stephen Ondieki 14:43 2003
6 Matt Ruhl 14:47 2003
7 Stephen Ondieki 1 14:49 2004
Kyle Price 14:49 2015
8 Justin Scheid 14:50 2010
Jeff Perrella 14:50 2011
Christopher Johnson 14:50 2014
9 Scott DeFilippis 14:51 2006
Stephen Ondieki 14:51 2005
10 Fouzi Aloui 14:53 1999
11 Gene Mitchell 14:54 2005
Anthony DeBenedictis 14:54 2004
12 Erick Too 14:57 2005
Nick Pellegrino 14:57 2005
Fouzi Aloui 14:57 2000
Eric Chirchir 14:57 2016
13 Michael Mykytok 14:58 2003
14 Youssef Rochdi 14:59 2015
none in 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018
SHONTS WILL BE DOWN THE SHORE ON SATURDAY
That’s right. Dean Shonts will be at Mary’s Place by the Sea 5K on Saturday. Someone got wind of a retired race director in their midst and there he was back at it agin.
https://www.compuscore.com/Race/NJ/OceanGrove/MarysPlacebytheSeaWalkathon
Shonts said that the race supports a respite place for women recovering from cancer.
SUPER-HERO HALF ON SUNDAY
Morris County area runners will be choosing from the 5K in Millburn or the Super-Hero Half Marathon in Morristown. With so many good races in New Jersey it is often a coin-toss for runners although there is quite a difference between a 3.1 and a 13.1 mile race.
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