Onteora Runners Club announces Grand Prix Series races
About a half dozen race directors awoke Wednesday morning to a very exciting email in their inbox as they discovered their races were selected for the 2017 Onteora Runners Club Grand Prix Series. Being chosen for the annual slate is a boon to races as club members flock to grab finishing points to challenge for overall and age-group honors.
The way it all works is that first, you gotta be a club member to get those points in the series.
After that, you just have to sign up for the races and take your best shot.
There are no extra forms to sign, no extra fees to pay (other than each race’s entry fee) and nothing else to do but enjoy the fun.
The club’s executive board picks 10 races each year and you have to finish at least five of them to qualify for an award.
A runner’s eight best finishes count towards final award points, and if you complete all 10, you get an extra honor as a Survivor.
Three of the races were pre-selected as they are races sponsored by the club, so those emails made it to only seven other race directors.
This year’s series starts with one of those club races, the Dirty Sneaker 5k on April 2.
I highlighted this race in last Sunday’s column and this is the first time that the race is part of the series.
It starts and finishes at the Hurley Mountain Inn and if you like, you can take part in the club’s annual luncheon and awards ceremony that honors the 2016 GP series finishers.
Exactly four weeks later, on April 30, the annual Ray’s Run 4-mile is next up in the series.
This race, which benefits the Ray Caddy Memorial Scholarship at Kingston High, starts and finishes at Dietz Stadium in Kingston.
The run travels on a challenging course in uptown Kingston near the stadium.
Speaking of challenging courses, Race No. 3 in the series is the Run the Pace Cross Country Trail Run on May 14 in Hyde Park.
This is a first-year entry in the series that takes place at Locust Hill Farm and traverses a 7-8 mile route where the farm hosts a Spring Jumper event for horses the day before.
The Every Mother Counts program, which provides health care and education to women around the world, benefits from the race.
The club’s second race and fourth in the series is the Woodstock Races 15k on May 28, Memorial Day.
Traveling over the rolling country roads in and around Woodstock near the former Zena School, this will be the longest race in the series this year.
On June 9, the club’s third race honors the memory of co-founder Bernie Stahl at the annual Onteora Mile on the Dietz Stadium track.
This race is the shortest of them all and tests runners’ abilities to tackle that one mile distance with four laps around the track.
Be prepared to eat watermelon that night.
On June 28, the club selected the Children’s Home of Kingston 4k as race No. 6 in the series.
This run, starting and finishing at the downtown Kingston campus, features an up-and-down course that will feature a new wrinkle this year as runners head to the trolley trail.
Proceeds benefit programs for youth at the Children’s Home.
Celebrate the Fourth of July this year with the seventh race in the series, the 2.3-mile Marbletown Run.
This point-to-point race starts at the Kripplebush Firehouse and ends at the Marbletown Elementary School.
It also features some unique categories, especially the time estimation division.
The series then travels to Williams Lake in Rosendale on July 26 for one of the races in the Kingston Summer Cross Country Series.
The 4-5 mile run will likely be one of the more highly anticipated races in the series, especially on a warm summer evening.
Speaking of scenic race routes, the ninth race in the series is the Barry Hopkins Run, a 3.8-mile jaunt at the Olana Historic Site in Greenport on Sept. 10.
There is nothing quite like running on the property of Hudson River artist Frederic Church with its beautiful views of the river and the Catskill Mountains to take your breath away.
The series closes out early this year with the finale on Sept. 24 at the Towpath Run 6k.
This race, which was part of the series in the past, benefits the Little Ones Learning Center and is a point-to-point run from Alligerville to Accord along the former Erie Canal towpath.
So if you decide to run some of the races or all of them, you are in for a treat thanks to the ORC.
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