The end of a running era
by Laurie Gordon

The death of a race is a sad thing, especially when that race has been something near and dear to your heart for many years. Not only was the Midland Run 15k, held the third Sunday in May each year in Far Hills, New Jersey, an institution as a road race, but it was a day-long happening and a celebration of the sport of running. I won the race in 1998, but long before that, it held a special place in my heart.

The course was hilly and it was always my strategy to not take water mid-way up the four mile hill. That’s where you could pass your competition. The seven-mile hill was a bear and spectators knew that. In fact, that’s where I watched last year’s Midland Run, unable to compete as I was six months pregnant.

This year was going to be something else at The Midland Run. Shortly after last year’s race, rumors started running the mill about the addition of a marathon. I was ecstatic. My favorite distance at my favorite race venue. I planned to fund raise for The Midland School and do my best to train balancing two jobs and an infant.

Then, other rumors began to circulate when December rolled around. I ignored them at first finding it preposterous that the original race and new marathon could possibly be cancelled. How could it be? There had even been a full-page, glossy ad for the Car-a-Mile Marathon, as it had been named, in Running Times and applications were floating around all over the place.

Then, an official press release came out.

“After 28 great years, the Midland Run as well as plans for a new marathon are coming to an end. Conceived in 1978 as a fund raiser for The Midland School, a school for children with developmental disabilities, the Run developed into one of the premier road races in New Jersey. The New York Times said of it "If you can run only one race a year, make it the Midland Run". In 1980, the year of the Olympic Boycott, the Run gathered a field of world class runners which Sports Illustrated called "the most impressive field of runners ever assembled for a road race". Unfortunately while the Midland Run still draws over a thousand runners each year, it is no longer the fund raiser it once was. As the number of road races in the tri-state area increased over the years, the Run was not able to attract the runners it did during its heyday. Being more than a run, the complexity of the event made it an expensive and time consuming event to stage. “

It was written in stone. The race, the new marathon and the entire event that had been so sacred to runners all around the region for nearly three decades was to be a thing of the past.

The money that went into and out of the event was astronomical. The entry fee had steadily climbed over the years, and one year after the race, a group of us conjectured as to how much was made by those involved on the race and how much actually went to The Midland School. We knew there were fees to pay for marketing, advertising and timing and The Midland Run went with high end in all areas.

Founded in 1960 by Dr. E.G. Scagliotta, Helen and Seldon Hardenstine, to meet the educational needs of two “brain injured” children for whom no educational program could be found, The Midland School, located in North Branch, NJ, is a non-profit comprehensive special education school serving the individual social, emotional, academic and career needs of children with developmental disabilities. What a great cause and what a great idea to hold a run as a fund raiser. Maybe it just got too big. Maybe they shouldn’t have added bicycle races and volleyball and sky divers and bands. But then again, that’s what made it such a happening and a festival and a celebration of our sport.

Here’s to all of the fond memories of The Midland Run. To the anticipation before the start and to cow-herding music they used to play as the runners took off across the field in the old days when it started and finished by the big tower. To the ascent to the 5K mark and the four mile hill then the plunge into the shade where skunk cabbage grew and a brook flowed into the river near the King’s mansion. To skirting the lake in anticipation of the seven-mile hill and to the falling-off-a-cliff feeling coming down from seven to Route 202. To the final stint on the roads that seemed to last forever past the train station and to the grand finale back onto the grass and into the finish.

To the first sip of cold Coors Lite when you were done and to the smell of the Sneaker Factory cook out and the sounds of laughing runners. To the exhilaration I felt the year I won and the agony the years the race ended in a loosing battle.

To the Midland Run bags you’d see all over the country in airports and at races and to the great creatures…frogs and pigs and jumping horses… that were on the shirts in later years.

They say that all good things must come to an end, but the death of this race is way premature. The death of any long-standing race is such a sad thing…especially an institution like The Midland Run. Maybe it will rise again in another place and in another form but I know it’ll take a while for any race to replace it in my heart. (Posted 1/3/06)

Laurie Gordon is an Olympic Trials qualifier and writer who lives in Stillwater, New Jersey with her runner husband, Guy, and 5 month old, Ashley Rose.