By Robert Cavanaugh
Clear skies and temperatures in the 50’s greeted the 600-plus participants at Saturday’s Little Silver 5k run/walk, 1-mile race and kiddie dashes.
Many runners took advantage of the weather to post personal bests on the USATF-Certified Course.
The morning kicked off at 8:45 a.m. with the kids’ 1-mile fun run. The race started on the track of Red Bank Regional High School and looped around the campus before returning to the track to finish in front of cheering parents.
The 5k began on Harding Avenue in front of the high school.
Runners and walkers headed down Harding Avenue, making a left onto Prospect Avenue. They ran a few rolling hills on Prospect before making a left onto Rumson Road. After passing the 2-mile marker, the runners made a left onto Hance Road before turning left back onto Harding and then onto the Red Bank Regional High School campus.
The runners then made their way back to the high school track for the final 300 meters.
The overall winner was Dennie Waite of Little Silver in a time of 17:05. He was followed closely by Mark Degenhart of Shrewsbury and Derek Tietjen of Little Silver.
For the second year in a row, RTC Training’s Catherine Wimmer, 12, was the overall winner in the women’s race with a personal best 19:23, which is a 6 minute and 15 second per mile pace. Following Catherine was Dawn Wilcox of Little Silver and Katie O’Connor of Belford.
Following the races, everyone was invited back to the Little Silver Firehouse for a post race party that included plenty of food, drinks, music and activities for kids.
