BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer
About 3,000 runners are expected to hit the pavement on Saturday for the George Sheehan Classic 5-mile road race in Red Bank.
The event, which began as the Asbury Park 10K and moved to Red Bank 11 years ago, was moved up to Father’s Day weekend last year. Previously, it was held on the second Saturday in August.
“We moved the race up because it’s so hot in August, but we still ended up with one of the hottest days of the year,” race director Phil Hinck said. “So far, though, the forecasts for this weekend are predicting cooler weather — that’s what we had in mind.”
The race course begins on Broad Street and winds its way through the residential sections of neighboring Little Silver and Fair Haven. It takes runners through the out-and-back aspect along Harding Road and includes a test at past the 4-mile mark when runners face to climb Tower Hill, after which it’s downhill and relatively flat to the finish on Broad Street. Digital clocks will be placed at every mile, and water stops will be at each mile as well as the start and finish areas.
The 5-mile main event kicks off at 8:30 a.m. In addition to the 5-miler, another 500-600 people will participate in a variety of other events beginning on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. with the Kids Classic, a group of short races for children aged 4-13. Saturday’s schedule also includes a wheelchair race at 8:25 a.m. and a 2-mile health and fitness walk that gets under way at 8:40 a.m.
Traditionally, Kenyan runners dominate the Sheehan, and that was the case last year. Joseph Matui easily won the men’s title in 23:51. Atalalech Ketema successfully defended her 2003 women’s division crown with a time of 28:03, 49 seconds off the pace she set the year before.
The top five finishers, male and female will take home cash prizes. This year, the prize for the top male and female finisher is $500. The top New Jersey male and female winners will earn $100. A total of $6,000 in prize money will be distributed to the top five overall finishers, top New Jersey finishers and age-category winners.
The list of previous winners reads like a Who’s Who of road racing: Americans Bill Rodgers and Keith Brantley, Norway’s Grete Waitz, Australian Lisa Ondeiki, Zimbabwe’s Phillimon Hanneck, Kenya’s Veronica Kanga and Russian Olga Markova.
Hinck noted that computer chips will not be used for timing this year so runners will be expected to remain in the chutes until the tags are removed from their race numbers. All registrants receive a T-shirt and those that finish the race receive medals.
About 400 or so volunteers will support the race, providing assistance along the course at the start and finish lines, water stops and along the course.
“We couldn’t do it without them,” Hinck said. “We get a lot of support from the local high schools and the police explorers. It’s great to have them out on the course.”
The race director noted that the Runners Forum, slated for 7:15 p.m. on Friday will include presentations and a question-and-answer session with several physicians who are also runners.
Entries for the 5-miler are $25; race day entries are $30. Entries for the fitness walk and Kids Classic are $13 ($16 on race day). For more information, call (732) 988-7725 or register online at www.sheehanclassic.org