Garden State Youth Track and Field Series

[marathonman]

Hey, Going the Distance, you and your crew did a great job putting on this track meet today at Roselle Catholic High School.
The Bears Running Club all enjoyed themselves and the atmosphere was terrific!
The DJ pumping music during the races as well as in between events really helped make this more then just another race, but an event! A track meet with as many youth runners as you has competing takes a long time, but everybody in attendence really seemed to enjoy themselves.
Track meets at the high school level should take your race as an example as to how to lift this sport to a higher level! Running is great and race directors should take some cues from you as to how to make it a true show. The runners who are competing deserve it!
The Bears are looking forward to the next meet on May 15th. Congrats, thanks, and keep being creative!

[dwacox]

Hey, Going the Distance, you and your crew did a great job putting on this track meet today at Roselle Catholic High School.
The Bears Running Club all enjoyed themselves and the atmosphere was terrific!
The DJ pumping music during the races as well as in between events really helped make this more then just another race, but an event! A track meet with as many youth runners as you has competing takes a long time, but everybody in attendence really seemed to enjoy themselves.
Track meets at the high school level should take your race as an example as to how to lift this sport to a higher level! Running is great and race directors should take some cues from you as to how to make it a true show. The runners who are competing deserve it!
The Bears are looking forward to the next meet on May 15th. Congrats, thanks, and keep being creative!

ditto for Transy East

[Goingthedistance]

Dwayne and Marathonman:

Thanks very much for the kind words. With over 700 competitors, it took extra effort to run basically two meets in one. One for the CYO and one for the USATF/AAU teams.

It is especially rewarding the hear this from two people that know so much about the sport. Dwayne...I loved it every time you let me know when a meet record was about to fall! One instance I recall was when Najee Glass ran 61.6 in the 400M in the Midget division.

I really think much of the success goes to the coaches of the USATF and AAU teams that attended, offered advice, and let the atmosphere evolve from just a track meet to an "event". Especially helpful were Brandon Gregory (Jettas track Club), Kevin Turner (Plainfield Tsunami), Jorge Oliveira (Den of Lions), Audrey Bonfiglio (South Brunswick), Deniz Cordeiro (Sport newark Benfica); Bill Magee (St Michael's - Newark), and Kevin Doyle (Medford Track Club). These coaches, along with the others donate a lot of time to the sport and ensuring their athletes learn the sport and have fun. (It's no wonder that NJ has such a great tradition in track and field.) Their kids were great, well behaved, an just great to be around. I have to hand it to them...we don't have a huge fence controlling the crowd like other fields do. yet, things went fairly smoothly (with the help of a few reminders now and then).

Combining the meet with the music and prizes was risky, but it was the atmosphere we wanted. My Ultrak 8 timer broke during the meet (I think due to the rain and excessive humidity of the early morning), but we had 20 backup stopwatches just in case this happened.

And how about the Sneaker Factory. They sold every pair of spikes they had at just $20 per pair. I (and a couple of friends) picked up 4 pair and gave them to kids that showed up to run in basketball shoes. I think we might have created a few converts since they said they would be coming back. Dean Shonts...Thanks so much. At the meet on the 28th, the Running Company will be in attendence with their supply of gear. And let's not forget the Runner's pace who is supplying some prizes for the meet on the 15th.

Tim Styler's (former Cranford and Villanova runner) 3000M in 9:23 (smiling all the way) was impressive. He was followed closely by Ivo Casas (Den of Lions) in 9:32.

The dance contest that erupted wasn't planned...but the 70 or so people that stated doing the Cha Cha Slide need to be commended. That took guts!...and from the look of it....athletic ability.

I was impressed with the Jettas coaches 4x100M relay team which was anchored by Brandon Gregory. I don't think I want to race him.

I will be posting the complete results later this week. I am hoping the Alumni Challenge Meet on June 18th continues to grow. This could become more than a development meet down the road.