The 2020 Red Bank Classic kicks off at 8 a.m. on June 20 in downtown Red Bank. (John Vitollo)
The third annual Red Bank Classic 5K will return to downtown Red Bank on Saturday, June 20 to raise support for youth development programs at the borough’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Red Bank Family YMCA.
Runners and walkers, young and old, completed the 5-kilometer distance. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Much like the first, the second annual edition of the Red Bank Classic 5K once again ran under blue skies Saturday.
Organized by the Red Bank Business Alliance and the Red Family YMCA, the 3.1-mile event attracted more than 1,200 runners, walkers and a smattering of canines.
Were you in it, or do you know someone who was? See our photos below — and check out the guy who put on a great show for redbankgreen as he neared the finish line. Race results are here.
Runners warm up before last year’s inaugural race. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Classic, which last year revived a downtown footrace tradition after a three-year absence, is set to run (and walk) its second edition Saturday.
Here’s what you need to know:
Runners head down Branch Avenue in the 2015 edition of the George Sheehan Classic, which turned out to be the last. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Three years after the departure of a beloved road race, the new Red Bank Classic 5K sprang to life under cloudless skies Saturday.
The debut running of the race, organized by the Red Bank Business Alliance, attracted more than 1,000 runners, eclipsing the expectations, said RBBA member Angie Courtney.
Were you there, or do you know someone who was? Look for them in redbankgreen‘s photos below. Race results are here.
Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy powering through the last steps of the race, above, and before the start, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Undaunted by a fellow runner’s warning that Tower Hill can be a killer, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy finished among the top 25 percent of racers in the debut Red Bank Classic 5k Saturday.
Runners head down Branch Avenue in the 2015 edition of the George Sheehan Classic, which turned out to be the last. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a three-year rest, Red Bank is set to again lace up its running shoes Saturday with the debut of Red Bank Classic, organizers said.
Here’s what you need to know:
The student leaders behind the Ridge Road Run 5K, as seen on Ridge Road, are (left to right): RBR senior Michael Eulner, Shrewsbury; sophomore Claudia Kelly, Little Silver; senior Thomas Lloyd, Shrewsbury; RFH senior Ellie Gibney, Fair Haven; RBC senior Lily Salcedo; RFH senior Teddy Sourlis, Rumson; and RBC senior Courtney Carroll, Middletown.
[Press release from Red Bank Regional]
The sports rivalries among three Two River schools are legendary. It is always a super sweet victory when the Red Bank Regional (RBR) Buccaneers can defeat Red Bank Catholic (RBC) Caseys or Rumson Fair Haven’s (RFH) Bulldawgs, and vice versa for all three teams, two of which are located on Ridge Road, and the other not too far away.
However, seven students from all three schools have recently collaborated to use that rivalry to generate a very positive event.
Runners head down Branch Avenue in the 2015 edition of the George Sheehan Classic, which was cancelled a year later. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Filling a gap left by the departure of the George Sheehan Classic a year ago, Red Bank will again host a 5k race in June, 2018. And this one will be run entirely within the town’s borders.
The borough council gave a green light Wednesday night to the event, which is being organized by the Red Bank Business Alliance.
Runners cooling down on Broad Street after last year’s race. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank, it seems, has hosted its final George Sheehan Classic, the road race named for the longtime borough physician credited with fostering the worldwide mania for amateur running.
The five-kilometer event, traditionally held in June, will be merged with the Asbury Park 5k in August, according to a cryptic, two-sentence post on the event’s website.
It was a morning of flying ponytails, the occasional tutu and exultant finishes as hundreds of girls, joined by other runners of both genders, completed the Girls on the Run 5k in Fair Haven Saturday morning.
The race, one of many organized nationally by the Junior League, is the culmination of a 10-week program aimed at teaching girls in grades 3 through 8 life skills and confidence.
redbankgreen grabbed dozens of photos. Check them out to see if you know any of these future world-beaters. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
A pair of adult Canada Geese shepherded a clutch of goslings around a Fair Haven backyard near Schwenker’s Pond Thursday.
And speaking of young ones… Fair Haven hosts a Girls on the Run 5k for girls from the third through eighth grades Saturday at 9 a.m. starting and ending at Fair Haven Fields. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
Nearly 1,400 runners made fast work of the 20th annual George Sheehan Classic in Red Bank on Saturday before heading down to Marine Park for a traditional post-race celebration.
The event, launched in Asbury Park as a 10k (6.2 mile) run and now trimmed to a 5k, honors Dr. George Sheehan, a longtime Red Bank physician, writer and champion of running, who died in 1993.
Race results are here.
The leaders near the turn onto Rumson Road during the 2011 edition of the race. Below, race co-organizer Dawn Wilcox at the RBR track. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
All along, even as the higher-profile Sheehan Classic has gradually shortened over the years from a 6.2-miler to half that distance, the Little Silver Classic has always been what it is today: a five-kilometer (3.1-mile) run.
Back when the first edition of the race went off, in 1993, “it was a more realistic distance, and more popular,” said borough resident Dawn Wilcox, who co-directs the event with Karen McCormick..
That’s not only because the shorter event is something more casual runners can tackle, but because it’s more family-friendly, enabling parents to run with their teenagers or even kids as young as nine years old, she said. And that’s in keeping with the atmosphere of the event, a fundraiser for the Little Silver PTO.
But make no mistake, said Wilcox: “It’s a real race. Legitimate racers want to do it.”
Thirteen hundred runners and walkers finished the 19th annual running of the George Sheehan Classic in Red Bank and Little Silver under sunny skies and mild temperatures Saturday morning. It was the first edition in which the race was trimmed to a five-kilometer (3.1-mile) distance, from five miles.
Highlights included a man running up Tower Hill while talking on a cell phone, a drum-pounding Uncle Sam at the top of the hill, and a wayward walker who made a wrong turn and got briefly lost.
Broad Street was reopened to traffic at 10:06 a.m., the earliest ever for the event, though six minutes later than race organizers had set as their new goal.
Race results are here.
Race organizers are shooting for a record post-race breakdown, thanks to a shortening of the race distance from five miles to five kilometers, below. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In road racing, it’s all about going for one’s “personal best” time.
And this year’s George Sheehan Classic, scheduled for Saturday in Red Bank and shortened for the first time to a five-kilometer distance, from five-miles, offers organizers a chance to smash their post-race personal-best post-race breakdown time
“My goal is to open Broad Street by 10 a.m., before any of the stores open,” racemaster Phil Hinck tells redbankgreen.
Runners turn a corner last year in Fair Haven, which will no longer be part of the race course. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
For George Sheehan Classic organizer Phil Hinck, the annual Red Bank running event is really several races in one.
The foremost is the one in which hundreds of runners, walkers and wheelchair users strive to cross the finish line on Broad Street in as little time as possible.
But well before that race, there’s the pressure to prop up the number of runners, which has been in gradual decline since the event moved to the borough from Asbury Park in 1994.
And then there’s the race against the clock to break down the street barriers and timing equipment to get out of the way of downtown merchants opening for Saturday morning business.
Now, in the biggest change to the event in years, Hinck and the race committee have decided to shorten the main race to a five-kilometer event, from five miles, a move that they hope will juice attendance and expedite post-race clean-up.
The 15k out-and-back course. The 5k turns around just east of Club Way. (Click to enlarge)
A pair of events to benefit the Middletown Youth Athletic Association sends runners and walkers over one of the most scenic, and hilliest, routes in the Red Bank area Sunday morning.
The 11th annual Navesink Challenge, consisting of a 15k-run and a 5k walk-or-run, kick off at Bodman Park in the Navesink section of Middetown at 10 a.m..
The 18th running of the 5K (3.1-mile) Little Silver Classic 5k went off on a Sunday morning made for smiles.
redbankgreen was out on Rumson Road to catch the action.
The 18th annual running of the George Sheehan Classic swept through Red Bank, Little Silver and Fair Haven, NJ, under blue skies Saturday. More than 1,400 runners completed the five-mile race in humid conditions. Searchable results are here.
redbankgreen’s Dustin Racioppi and Trish Russoniello were on the ground to freeze the action in pixels.
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