McGuire wins 2003 Contact We Care

Add hair styling to Zack Mcguire’s talents. Figuring he would need every advantage possible to try and improve on his second place finish at last years’ Fanwood Contact We Care 5K, Mcguire cut off nearly all of his hair Saturday afternoon only hours before the race. The new look paid immediate dividends as the Scotch Plains senior won the eighth annual race in 15:56.

“My hair had gotten too long.” said Mcguire. “It made me feel lighter. I had been running with extra weight all summer”.

Mcguire was satisfied to let 22-year-old Jeffrey Bingham of Madison, a recent college graduate set the pace for two miles.
Mcguire’s first mile was a comfortable 5:05,seven seconds behind the leader and his two mile split was 10:20 As the runners turned from Helen Street onto Coriell Avenue, Mcguire made his move drawing even with Bingham as the runners turned onto Martine.

“I knew there was nobody in back of me, so I figured why not go for it”, said Mcguire. “Even if I crashed and burned the last half mile I would still finish second”.

But there would be no repeat second as Mcguire used his superior finishing speed to win by four seconds in a time three seconds slower than his coach Jeff Koegel had run to finish third in 1997. Mcguire’s last mile was his fastest, 4:58.

“I am not surprised that he broke 16”, said Koegel of his star runner. “I am very proud of his continual improvement. He has worked very hard this summer”.

It was an all winning day for Koegel’s Scotch Plains Cross Country teams as his top girl runner, junior Mary Shashaty made her road running debut a memorable one by taking the women’s division in 20:20.

“We set a modest goal for her, to break 21 “, said Koegel. “She blew away her personal best by 34 seconds”.

“I tried to run an even race”, said Shashaty. “I just listened to what Coach Koegel told me to do”.

Scotch Plains runners past and present were ubiquitous in the top echelon with 2002 graduate Michael Dixon, finishing
sixth in 16:55. Dixon ran a 1:57 half mile this past spring for Ramapo College. Walter Biner, a 2003 graduate was ninth out of 309 finishers in 17:25.

Koegel, running the race for the first time since 1997 ran a subdued 20:20 finishing just behind Shashaty, but good enough to win his age group. “I felt good out there”, said Koegel. “I know I can go a lot faster”.

Although youth dominated the race, there were some impressive performances by area masters’ runners. Susan Graff, completed a sweep of the three area summer races by finishing first among female Fanwood runners and was second overall master in a time of 22:32.

Don Hessemer of Fanwood, was not a prize winner but he completed his eighth consecutive Fanwood 5k while doing what he usually does on race day, running 10 miles in the morning. “I’m training for a marathon,” said Hessemer, “so it’s important to get the long run in but I try and always run this race”.

It is said that for every finisher in a race there is an individual story. The second place masters’ finisher, 58 year old Douglas Brown of East Brunswick had no intention of running the race but he was working in the area on Saturday delivering local yellow pages and saw the large race sign on Martine Avenue between South and LaGrande .

“I always carry race stuff in the van with me, so I figured why not”, said Brown. “It was a very well done small town race”, said Brown.

The race was once again flawlessly directed by Mark Zenobia of On Your Mark Productions (OYMP), ably assisted by dozens of energetic Contact We Care and local volunteers.