The Rolling Stones’ 1964 hit “Time is on My Side” is the perfect theme for the Shore Athletic Club’s Lake Takanassee Summer Race Series.
Time has clearly been on Lake Tak’s side. It’s the oldest road race in the Shore area and has become a tradition passed down through generations.
In was back in the summer of 1964 when the lake hosted the Shore Athletic Club’s first Summer Race Series. It’s now 2014, and runners are still circling the lake four times.
“When we started the Lake Tak races in 1964, we had no idea how they’d grow and help so many people make so many new friends,” Elliott Denman of the Shore Athletic Club said.
It was Denman who came up with the idea of using Takanassee for the races. He was living in an apartment on Ocean Avenue in Long Branch when he discovered the lake while walking around the town. Denman, a nationally ranked racewalker, was a member of the 1956 United States Olympic Track and Field team. He thought that Takanassee, which is close to the ocean, was conducive for running and racewalking.
“So I tried to get the word out to interested runners and walkers,” he said. “One thing led to another and another.”
Fifty years later, they’re still racing around Lake Tak. On June 30, the series celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first race. Ocean Township’s Greg Lowing had the distinction of winning the first race of the next half-century. He seemed typical of so many who have run in the 5K series.
“Friends of mine had run it and told me about it,” he said after his win. “I ran it last year and loved it. I like the course.”
Lowing, who will be a sophomore in the fall at the University of South Carolina, where he ran the 3,000- and 5,000-meters for the Gamecocks, said the race was “a good way of getting a tempo run in against competition.”
Middletown’s Harry Nolan ran in the first race at Takanassee and has been back every year since. He was in the field for the 2014 opener.
Afterward, the veteran Masters runner talked about the camaraderie that has developed over the years among the runners and the legendary status the race has developed that keeps runners coming back.
One of the unique things about the race, Nolan said, was “the course stays the same. It hasn’t changed.”
The series will continue Monday evenings (6:30 p.m. for the Kids 1,500 meters, 6:45 p.m. for the Open 5K and 6:47 p.m. for the 5K racewalk) through Aug. 18. Pre-registration is not required.
Go to www.shoreac.org for more details.
Irish Olympian Jerry Kiernan has held Takanassee’s course record since 1987, when he posted a time of 14:27.5 that took 1.5 seconds off Mike Keogh’s 1983 mark of 14:29. Keogh also represented Ireland in the Olympics.
Some familiar names make the top 10, including Marlboro High School great Guy Emmons, who ran a then-course record of 14:31 in 1981.
Nolan, who has won a record 139 races in the series, has a personal best of 14:39.2 from 1983, which ranks No. 7. Greg Otey, who starred at Long Branch High School, is 10th at 14:51 in 1984.
Cindy Gerard holds the women’s record at 16:46.2. She is the only runner under 17 minutes. Pat Barret, who was the first female to run Takanassee, still has the fourth fastest time at 17:20 from 1980. J.P. Stevens High School legend Janet Smith is No. 6 with the 17:34 time she ran in 1983.
Ray Funkhouser holds the racewalking record of 20:40.1 set in 1984, followed by Ben Ottmer in 22:25 (1988) and Jeff Davis in 22:27 (1988).
The women’s course record is 24:37 by Gerilynn Buckholtz in 1992. Norma Arnesen at 25:16 (1983) and Dorit Attias at 25:19 (1988) are second and third, respectively.
From 1964-75, the Takanassee course was actually 3.4 miles. Starting in 1976, it was changed to the more traditional 5K.
Marathon great Tom Flemming held the 3.4-mile course record at 15:49 in 1974. In 1973, Nolan had set the record at 16:01.
Nolan and Bill Scholl, who is No. 4 in 16:09, are the only runners to appear on both top-10 lists.
Former Howell High School star Dave Geer ran the fifth-fastest time on the old course at 16:15 in 1974.