Big field expected Aug. 8 for 12th annual Asbury Park 5K

The Jersey Shore Golden Grand Prix picks up again Aug. 8 with the 12th annual Asbury Park 5K road race.

The runners will start at 8:30 a.m.

The Asbury Park course is racerfriendly. It is fast, flat and also spectatorfriendly. Those who come to watch the race will get to see the runners pass twice. The 5K course features a double-loop that begins and ends at Bradley Park opposite Convention Hall at Sunset Avenue and Ocean Avenue. The course proceeds along Ocean Avenue prior to turning left onto Fifth Avenue. Another left will take runners onto Grand Avenue, then a slight left onto Cookman Avenue and back to Ocean Avenue before going around again.

Registration for the Asbury Park 5K is open to all. The fee is $25 through July 31, then $30 through race day Aug. 8.

Runners can sign up online by downloading a registration from the Jersey Shore Running Club website or register online at www.asburypark5k.org.

They can also register in person Aug. 7 at the Packet Pickup from 6-7:30 p.m. in Atlantic Square Park across from Convention Hall. “Last Minute Lous” can sign up the morning of the race across from Convention Hall on Ocean Avenue starting at 7 a.m.

According to race director Phil Hinck, 1,740 runners completed the race in 2014, and he expects more than 2,000 this year.

Hinck noted that the Asbury Park race began 12 years ago, and organizers picked the second Saturday in August for the 5K to pay tribute to the former Asbury Park 10K Classic, which moved up the Parkway to Red Bank in the 1990s to become the Sheehan Classic. The first Asbury Park 10K was won by marathon great Bill Rodgers in 1982. Hinck explained that 5K was selected as the distance to enable more people to compete. “The casual runner nowadays runs 1 or 2 miles and does other activities like cycling,” Hinck said in a prepared statement. “To them, 5 miles seems a long way.”

The race is geared toward runners of all abilities, and Hinck encourages runners and walkers alike to come out, have fun and spend a day at the beach.

This is a local race presented by the local running community of the Shore Athletic Club (SAC), the Freehold Area Running Club (FARC) and the Jersey Shore Running Club (JSRC) to raise funds for Jersey Shore nonprofits — local organizations that can often be overlooked by larger fundraisers.

Andrew Brodeur, who starred at Brick Memorial High School before running for Duke University, and Dactilia Booth of Long Branch were last year’s Asbury Park 5K winners.

The Asbury Park 5K is the fourth event in the Jersey Shore Golden Grand Prix — a series of races that offers awards to overall winners and age-group category winners. It is sponsored by McLoone’s. The five races are the Spring Lake 5, George Sheehan Classic, Belmar 5, Asbury Park 5K and the Pier House 5K, which is held on Labor Day in Long Branch.

Brodeur and Sarah Cummings kicked off the series with wins in Spring Lake. Mark Leininger and Marisa Cummings took first at the Sheehan Classic in Red Bank.

In Belmar, it was Brodeur and Marisa Cummings again, as they picked up their second victories of the series.

For further information on the Jersey Shore Golden Grand Prix, go to www.jsgrandprix.com.