(above) Most spirited group – The Rosynsky Family
The Annual Cranford Jaycees Road Race Continues Virtually
with more than 500 participants
Cranford’s July 4th Firecracker tradition continued virtually for its 41st year. The Cranford Jaycees annual road race adapted to social distancing guidelines by becoming a virtual event with more than 500 participants signing up to participate.
“We know how important the Firecracker is to our town’s Fourth of July tradition, and so we really tried to find a way to keep the event going this year while keeping everyone safe.” said Dave Farrell, who co-led the event for the Jaycees with Roger Imhof.
Runners could run the traditional one- or four-mile distances, or do an open course run, at the location of their choice, and then submit their times for scoring. The top male finisher in the four-miler was Liam Christman in a time of 21:47, while the top female finisher in the four-miler was Abby Granrath with a time of 27:00. The top male and female one mile fun run finishers were Sam Dempsey, age 7, with a time of 7:36 and Melody Jennings, age 11, with a time of 7:52. Full results are available online at my.raceresult.com/153331/results.
New award categories were added this year, including:
- Greatest Distance, for the open run participant who ran the furthest, won by Yusif Mufti who ran more than 31 miles, and Valerie Chupela, who ran 13.1 miles.
- Most Socially Distant, for the runner who competed the furthest distance from Cranford, claimed by Brian Farrell who ran the four-miler in Australia.
- Oldest Firecracker shirt, won by John Bergacs who competed in a shirt from the 1989 race.
- Most Spirited awards were given to the Rosynsky family of Garwood for their patriotic attire and to Gina Schinestuhl, who ran the four-miler while carrying an American flag.
A kickoff show was live streamed by TV35 and on Facebook featuring the national anthem sung by local artist Kelli Bruno and the firing of a cannon to start the race.
Brighton Air Corp was the title sponsor for the second year in a row, while Investors Bank of Cranford was a primary sponsor for the 10th consecutive year.
Proceeds from the event helped support the Cranford Jaycees scholarship fund and community efforts. In June, the Jaycees awarded a total of $25,000 in scholarships to these graduating seniors from Cranford: Paige Brogan, Grace Caldwell, Chloe Carracino, Autumn Clarke, Thomas Cutro, Ariel Daryani, Jack Gard, Mikaylee Grohol, Ian Hanna, Andrew Iacovano, Benjamin Jones, Marina Nunziato, Pilar Paradiso, Shannon Roman, Daniel Serna, Erin Trojan, Grace Ushay, and Alex Whitmore.
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