Big changes afoot for 2017 Kingston Classic
With slightly less than six months to the 2017 Kingston Classic, organizers announced major changes this week for the 35th edition of the popular local race.
With slightly less than six months to the 2017 Kingston Classic, organizers announced major changes this week for the 35th edition of the popular local race.
First off, Kiwanis Club of Kingston, which revived the Classic in 2013, parted ways with HITS Running and will be the sole organizing body of the race.
Secondly, Kiwanis also recently announced that the marathon and halfmarathon races will be discontinued, with only the Classic’s original distance of 10 kilometers and an accompanying 2-mile run offered this year.
And lastly, organizers are in the final stages of charting a new course which will carry runners through the Rondout district of Kingston and into the town of Esopus.
The 2017 Classic is scheduled for April 23.
Classic co-race director Carlos Perez said the decision to break with HITS was a mutual one.
“We are back to the Classic being a Kiwanisonly event,” Perez said. “Both Kiwanis and HITS felt it was time to separate. We are confident that the Classic will remain a topnotch event.”
Perez and co-director Ron Swart are busily working with a number of local running experts in laying out the new course.
“HITS staff has been helpful to us because they did a triathlon in that neighborhood years ago and are familiar with it,” he said. “Steve Schallenkamp has been helping out and other people from the local running clubs have offered their assistance, too.”
While Perez would not give specifics, it sounded as if the start and finish would be somewhere on the Rondout waterfront near T.R. Gallo Memorial Park, with Rotary Park, the Trolley rail trail, the Wurts Street bridge over the Rondout Creek and streets in the town of Esopus all in the realm of possibilities.
“It’s a work in progress and once we have all of the approvals in place, we will be able to announce the course,” he said. “It looks like we will have the runners in both the 10k and 2-mile on the same course, but we haven’t yet decided if they will all start together or if we will stagger the start.”
Perez said the 10k course will be USATF certified and he expected more input from locals before all was finalized.
He hinted that the entry fee for the 10k would be in line with comparable fees at other 10k races.
“I expect to have a lot of these details in place in the next few weeks and then we will be working hard on ramping up registrations,” Perez said.
Local runners weighed in with their opinions on the many changes planned for the Classic.
“As a runner, the Kingston Classic has been a longstanding tradition and many think of it as the kick off to the runner season,” said Onteora Runners Club president Deb Domack.
“There will be some disappointment in not having a local half-marathon or marathon in April, but the thing that has been most impressive is the involvement of the Kiwanis over the years. I love that this helps those (children) directly in my community and my hope is that the local community will step up to make this a huge success.”
Doug Needham said he was especially impressed with the 2014 race and the appearance of U.S. Olympian Meb Keflezighi.
“It was only my second half-marathon and having Meb at the expo blew me away,” Needham said. “I got injured in the fall that year and it was the Classic that got me motivated for 2015, so I’m disappointed to hear the half and full were being taken out. I’ll certainly be interested to see what it becomes now, and I’ll run the 10k next spring, but I’ll be wishing for the longer courses.”
Max Gruner said he is hoping the cheering crowds from the uptown course will head downtown to do the same in 2017.
“The whole area was pretty much shut down and people lined the streets, cheering,” he said. “It quickly became my favorite race. I think it had lost some local flavor, but I am looking forward to the change because downtown is fun, too.”
Jason Taylor said he was looking forward to the 10k being the focal event of the day.
“I much prefer a single distance event, the feeling of shared experience that comes when everyone has to run the same distance,” he said. “It draws runners together and connects them with the course and community.
I was never a fan of the ‘distance for everyone’ and I think people who want to be part of a high profile event have an incentive to train harder to be able to complete the whole thing.”
Diane Deppner Karron summed it up simply.
“The 10k is perfect,” she said.
ATL TRAIL RUN NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
While it’s too late to sign up for the After the Leaves Have Fallen trail run on Nov. 13 at Minnewaska State Park, race director Steve Schallenkamp said they are still looking for volunteers to help on race day.
Schallenkamp said anyone who volunteers for the race will receive free entry into one of the many races offered in 2017 by the Shawangunk Runners Club.
He asked that any interested in helping out call him directly at (845) 2146479 or send an email to ssrun54@aol.com.
The race is a fund raiser for the Josh Feldt Memorial Scholarship Fund at Wallkill High. John Capen and Max Gruner both provided reports on their recent out of town marathon finishes.
Capen, taking part in the Monster Mash Marathon in Dover, Del., had a finishing time of 7:51:11, good enough for fifth place in the over-70 age group.
Next up for Capen is the New York City Marathon next Sunday.
Gruner, meanwhile, took to the streets of Atlantic City, N.J., for his first-ever try at the distance in the AmeriHealth NJ Atlantic City Marathon and logged a sparkling time of 3:51:38.
Please send all race results and information to 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, N.Y., 12401; fax to (845) 331-3557; or email to runerichrun@gmail.com. Follow Eric Houghtaling on Twitter at http://twitter. com./runerichrun