St. PATTY'S OPENS THE MORRIS RACING SEASON Next weekend opens the spring racing season for local races with not one, but two races in Morris County. First up is the St. Patty's Day 5K that will go off at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, prior to the St. Patrick's Day parade that will take over Morristown. The parade does not impact the race as it is run from Ginty Field in Morris Township. The course is the same one that is used later in the year by the 5,000 Strides in June and the Lawyers for Kids in July. It is both challenging and fast with the challenge coming early in the race and the fast comes from the downhill to the finish in the second part. |
Runners will love the Brooks dry-wicking t-shirt that is being given to the first 1,000 registered runners. Last year 828 runners finished the race with Tony Cioce of Bernardsville leading them in with a time of 15:35. Maria Pavkovitch of Garfield was the women's leader with a time of 19:19.
Some Morris runners may skip the Saturday race in favor of going to Mount Olive and the International Trade Center's Leprechaun Leap 5K the next day. In 2007 there were 343 finishers with Mark Bahnuk of Hackettstown the winner in 16:22. On the women's side the winner was teenager, Dale Kinney, 14, of Morristown in 18:53.
The race has two interesting features. The first is the 1:00 p.m. start time. The second is the unusual age division separation, with an added wrinkle of discrepancies between the application that was printed in the Metro Race Forum and the application that is on-line at the race website, www.ITCAevents.org.
In the Metro Race Forum the age divisions are stated in the conventional ten year span of 20 to 29, 30 to 39, etc. But in the on-line application the age divisions are stated as 21 to 30, 31 to 40 on up. In both cases the age division stops at 70 and up.
As I was calling outside of normal business hours I was unable to reach the person who could have cleared up the confusion. If this is an issue to you, you should call the number listed on the application 973-347-3088, or 973-347-3077.
If the age divisions are not relevant to you, keep in mind that you do not have to be fast to win a prize in the best St. Patrick's Day costume contest.
Not everyone will stay in Morristown next weekend as some will travel to the venerable Millburn Spring Run 10K that is contested on the top of South Mountain Reservation on Sunday. A children's half mile is run at 10:30 a.m., with another kids race, a one miler at 10:45 a.m. Another short race, the two miler goes off at 11:00 a.m. with the 10K getting underway at 11:30 a.m.
Last year Ben Reynolds of Chatham was the winner in 31:52, with Diane Ross of Flanders winning the women's race in 38:53.
Both the Spring Run 10K and the Morristown St. Patty's 5K are part of the USATF-NJ New Balance Grand Prix series with a top point value of 500. The Leprechaun Leap gives a two dollar pre-registration discount to members of USATF-NJ but the race is not in the series.
Originally published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey on Sunday, March 9, 2008
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2008
