2008 Westfield Pizza Race Canceled

After several close brushes with nasty weather during its first six years, the seventh Westfield Downtown 5K and Pizza Extravaganza Race fell victim to all that Mother Nature could dole out Wednesday night and left the Westfield police no choice but to cancel the popular race. The decision was made at 6:30 pm, thirty minutes before the scheduled start time. With Doppler radar showing several powerful thunderstorms due to hit the area within the next hour the police told Race Director Sherry Cronin and organizer Mark Zenobia that they could not guarantee the safety of all runners due to the weather.

While clearly disappointed, Cronin understood the police viewpoint. “The runners and volunteers come first. If we cannot guarantee their safety then there is nothing else to do than what was done.”

Unlike other cancelled events, there will not be a makeup date for the race due to all the expenditures and contingencies already in place.

“We couldn’t do this race on another day. It’s just a freak weather event,” said Cronin, who wasn’t certain whether entrants will get refunds.

“We didn’t cancel the race on our own. We were told we had to so I am not sure how that affects refunds,” said Cronin.

As Cronin peered at hundreds of undistributed race shirts, she said wistfully, “We are going to have a major chore at the laundry to get all these shirts dried out.”

The decision stunned many runners, many who withstood difficult travel conditions only to arrive and hear that the race was cancelled.

“I guess they had to do it for safety, but I am still disappointed,” said a runner who preferred to remain anonymous.

“I am from Millburn and had planned to take the train here but when New Jersey Transit shut down for several hours I had to take the bus here. I wasn’t sure I would get here on time. Now this happens. I guess I’ll go out for a run so I can get something done.”

Race timer David Siconolfi, who has worked at over 1000 races in his career, said cancellations are a rare occurrence.

“We have them occasionally but they usually are snow related. The weather was crazy today. It was not easy setting up and I certainly understand the decision to cancel.”

After a record 2226.entrants last year, Cronin was hoping for 2600 this year. As of last Friday entries had passed 1600 but the horrible weather and early cancellation kept any kind of walkup entry to a minimum. The huge popularity had caused the organizers to slightly alter the beginning portion of the race, but the change will not be tested until next year.

With the DWC having already paid for 500 pizzas the cancellation resulted in Ferraros and Cosimos distributing pizza to the runners who waited on line in the restaurants.

The conditions made for a challenging evening for a dedicated group of sponsors and volunteers.

“Our race sponsors enable the event to take place since registrations alone
do not cover the cost for running the event,” noted Cronin.

The Westfield Jaycees were poised to hand out over the aforementioned 500 pizzas provided by Ferraro’s Pizzeria and Cosimo’s Pizzeria & Restaurant. Water, soda, cookies and paper goods were provided by ShopRite of Garwood. Additional cookies were supplied by Bovella’s Pastry Shoppe. Trader Joe’s supplied water for the race course which will be distributed by Girl Scouts. Stop & Shop and Lord and Taylor also provided bottled water. Over 100 volunteers, including many from the Westfield Y, assisted the DWC to ensure the event’s success.

Entertainment was provided by The Michael Craig Band on Quimby Street. The group consisting of Michael Doyle of Westfield and Craig Helgeson of Warren has been providing entertainment for all seven years of the race. The foul weather created extra challenges.

“We’re disappointed that we weren’t able to play this year but hopefully the weather will be better next year and we hope to be back,” said Doyle.

Pacing a wide and varied sponsorship list was Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield that returned to be a Gold Sponsor. Cronin was also pleased that over 75% of the sponsors are located Westfield’s Special Improvement District (the district which is managed by the Downtown Westfield Corporation).

Bronze sponsors for the event included Citibank, Commerce Bank, Fun Bus, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Lord & Taylor, Overlook Hospital-Atlantic Health System,, Qdoba Mexican Grill, ShopRite of Garwood, Verizon Fios, Weichert, Realtors, Westfield Pediatric Dental Group and Westfield Wealth Management. Contributing sponsors for the event included Capital One, JMK Auto Sales, Learning Express Toys of Westfield, State Farm Insurance Christine Cosenza Agency, Stop & Shop, and The Town Bank. Supporting sponsors for the event were Joseph A. Banker, DMD Creative Dental Care, Redco Engineering & Construction, Rita’s Water Ice, and Zamba Chicken. Downtown Westfield businesses also offered special promotions and giveaways at the event.

Perhaps the most disconcerting noise of a forgettable night took place at 7 pm, the exact time the race was supposed to start. A Westfield policeman yelled that people should get out of the road because Elm Street was being reopened to traffic. To everyone that was at least an hour too soon.

2008 Firecracker Roundup

While Independence Day 2008 was far from ideal for the beach, barbecues or fireworks, the overcast conditions convinced over 600 runners to sign up that morning swelling the overall entry for the 29th Firecracker Four Mile to 1380 entrants and 1188 finishers. While the numbers were slightly above last year’s turnout, a steady early morning rain, which started at 6:30 and did not end until about 8:15, was a natural concern for third year race director Mike Rokicki.

“We have learned throughout the years here how to prepare for just about any kind of weather. Overall the overcast conditions were better for us than oppressive early day heat which we have dealt with on many occasions,” said Rokicki.

“Although we haven’t counted everything yet, it appears that the race was a huge success in every way possible,” said Rokicki.

With two time defending champion Brian Harris of Clinton unable to run due to injuries, the race crowned a new champion, 22 year old Dave Alfano of West Orange. Alfano is a recent Seton Hall University graduate, who ran the 1500 and 3000 for the Pirates and has been a top road racer this year.

“Running competitively in college prepares you for these types of races,” said Alfano, who broke away from 19 year old Will Nowicki of State College, PA to win by six seconds in 20:22.

Nowicki, a former high school star at Pascack Valley Regional High School in Hillsdale, currently runs for Penn State and was third a year ago.

“Dave is a very tough runner and ran a better race than I did. We like this race and plan to come again next year” said Nowicki.

Runner-up last year, four-time winner Budd Coates of Rodale Press, finished 20th this year in 22:47, but still took home two trophies. Coates, who turned 51 in April, was an easy winner in his age group and also combined with his 15 year old daughter Kelsey to win the competitive father daughter division for the second straight year.

Coates, who has three of the top five times on the course with a personal best of 18:27, has made a tradition of traveling over 70 miles from Emmaus, PA to run the race.

“We come here because it’s a nice race and a great way to start the holiday. It’s getting a little expensive with the price of gas, but we plan to be back again next year,” said Coates.

Coates and his daughter edged out local entry Benedict and Elizabeth Campbell of Colonia. Campbell, a recent graduate of Mount Saint Mary’s won the women’s division in 24:37. After a strong senior season, where she made the all state parochial team, Campbell was able to breeze to victory despite not being in top form.

“This was more of a training run after all the tough high school races. The weather was not too hot and I tried to run a steady pace,” said Campbell.

The Mahoney twins, Brain and Kevin of Cranford, took the brother competition with Kevin 11th in 22:17 and Brain 14th in 22:30. Matthew Dipretore,30, finished fifth in 21:14 to take first Cranford finisher, while Veronica Santos,27, won the women’s division in 28:17.

Kevin Carpenter, 20, led the Kenilworth finishers in 24:00. Mark DelMonaco, 30, was the top Scotch Plains finisher in 22:34. 2008 Westfield High School track star Alex Tarlow was the first Westfield finisher in 24:32. Bobby Evans, a rising junior at Scotch Plains Fanwood High School was top Fanwood finisher in 25:19

Former Race Director Art Bilenker, a Jaycee and race benefactor once again held court after the race and gave out awards to runners who could answer trivia questions, had the strangest jobs and had the nicest biceps among other things.

“This is nice day for the community. It’s a good day for everyone,” said Bilenker, a dentist in Cranford.

Other popular activities at the race included free popcorn, cotton candy and Good Humor ice cream. The ice cream truck was manned by former Cougar star, Joe McKenney, who now runs for New York University, but is currently fighting leg injuries.

“I would like to be running but this is my summer job and it is fun to see all the smiles on kid’s faces,” said McKenney.

Another hard working ex Cougar star was Cranford Cross Country Coach Tim Styler, who managed a large running parking lot sale for the Running Company.

After a frenzied start early in the day when he seemed to be holding three conversations at once, Rokicki settled in and after the race could enjoy what was another successful race.

“We will have a post race meeting in a few weeks to go over what we did right and what we can improve on for the future. This race is always a work in progress and we will look to make changes if needed.” said Rokicki.

One of those changes could involve moving the starting time up one hour to 8:30. Before the race, many race volunteer took an informal survey of runners on whether the starting time should be moved up and according to Rokicki, the earlier time won.

“If we can move the race up, it would not be until 2010 but we are always trying to balance the race off with everything else that happens on Independence Day.”