XERCISE 5K IN CHESTER NEXT SATURDAY AND THE MORRIS MAULER ON SUNDAY FOR AREA RUNNERS TO CHOOSE FROM
Only last month area runners were flocking to a new 5K, the MK5K in Denville, and now on the first Saturday in May they can find another new one in Chester.
While the race will be new, the organizers, the Xercise Body Improvement Center, has been in the borough for several years and decided this year to hold what they hope will be an annual event, according to Erik Toomsoo speaking for the center.
Toomsoo, who lives in Long Valley, is a runner who has competed at road races and triathlons but considers himself to be a recreational runner.
“I’ve been running for years, but I’m not an avid runner,” he said.
Clearly the Xercise center promotes physical fitness and they also have a tie with the local first aid squad, which will be the beneficiary of funds raised by the race. Many of the boroughs first aiders, fire and police use the club to workout Toomsoo said.
“We work with the first aid squad on the rare occasions that someone doesn’t feel so well at the club,” said Toomsoo.
“Our motto is, ‘Come see us or see the first aid squad later”.
The race will be run from Memorial Park which is sited on the north side of Main Street and will use the borough streets to achieve the 5K distance. The race will start on Collis Lane and the runners will head down Main Street to a left turn onto Budd Avenue for a loop of neighborhood streets, before returning on Budd back to Main Street for a crossing over to Hillside Avenue. From Hillside the course works its way back to Collis for the finish. The course will be mostly flat except for the stretch up Hillside.
Toomsoo said that they are expecting between 200 to 300 runners including the many children who have already entered the Kiddies dashes that will follow the 5K. Registration will open on Saturday at 7:15 a.m. with the 5K going off at 9:00 a.m. and the kiddies dashes beginning at 9:45 a.m. More information can be found at www.oymp.com
MORRIS MAULER RETURNS FOR ITS FOURTH EDITION
Trail racing fans will have a fourth go at the Morris Mauler on Sunday, May 8 th at Lewis Morris Park. The race is run two times a year, once in the spring and once again in the fall. The two dates are not set in stone as race director Dave Hoch of East Brunswick strives to find the best fit for the race.
“I moved
it back a month to May so the course would be more dried out and we’d
have a better chance of having good weather,” said
Hoch (pictured at
left).
“There were a couple of April dates I couldn’t have and I didn’t want to have any in May that were a championship weekend,” he said, noting that four May weekends do have championship races. “I picked the one [that was open] and had some people who have a problem because it is Mother’s Day. But then again, I’ve never seen other Mother’s Day weekend races suffer.”
Statistics bear him out as for instance the Newark Run for Freedom and the HoHa Classic in Hoboken have successfully held their races on Mother’s Day. Hoch calculates that the Mother’s Day weekend will have the best chance for good weather as opposed to the past three Maulers.
“I decided to try to increase the percentages as far as the weather,” he said. “December, April, even late November – any of those dates could have been a really horrible day.”
Runners will find some changes for the spring Mauler as registration will now be done at the Gazebo at the top of the park. Because of the change of location and some restrictions due to another event in the park the course will be modified.
“I’m making the course a little tougher,” said Hoch. “It might be a little overdo because we are going up the big hill twice.”
Hoch has established a difficulty rating system that he calls the “Hillometer Chart”. The original course was rated at 8.7 with the toughest being 10. The 2005 course has been upgraded to a 9.1. This is unlikely to deter any of the trail racers who look for harder, not easier courses.
Registration will open at 9:00 a.m. with the race starting at 10:30 a.m. Look for more information and an entry application at www.runnersmecca.com.
RUNNER MISSED AT BOSTON
Our computer program missed a runner from this area who completed the Boston Marathon on April 18 th. Kris O’Grady of Boonton Township had an official time of 3:50 with a chip time of 3:40.
Published on Sunday, May 1, 2005 in the DAILY RECORD
Copyright Madeline Bost, 2005