A Brief History of the New Jersey Marathon (or an event that should not have happened)

Marathoning at the north Jersey Shore had been a tradition from 1972 to 1985 with the original Jersey Shore Marathon. It’s tag-line was “The Peoples’ Marathon” and was organized and directed by Tom Baum. The Jersey Shore Marathon was a successful event for many years and was used as a tune-up for the Boston Marathon by many of the participants. It was always held during the winter months of January and or December . The original out-and-back course, with an Asbury Park start, turn-around on Sandy Hook and return to an Asbury Park finish was not to last though and became many different and less appealing courses over the following years. When its date was moved to November, the JSM came too close to the ever expanding New York City Marathon that had recently moved from multiple Central Park loops to the 5-boroughs race and the Jersey Shore Marathon ended. That was 1985. Fast forward to 1995 and the idea of staging a “world-class” marathon at the north Jersey Shore was actively promoted by the future and current Race Director, Art Castellano.  As an active member of the Jersey Shore Running Club, Art would recruit future staff members, and develop interest in the idea, during training runs. After months of planning, a Feasibility Study was produced that showed great interest and support for a marathon race within the active running community. The Study also helped to acquire the needed sponsorship from Monmouth Medical Center, for 3 years. To honor our sponsor, MMC, and to give the marathon a cause, it was named the Jersey Shore McMarathon, a benefit for the Ronald McDonald House of Long Branch. For the first staging, April 27, 1997, we had 1,000 registered runners and about 800 finishers and we have never looked back. Each year it has grown larger, improved on the amenities, improved on the course, and then it was renamed the New Jersey Shore Marathon to benefit children’s charities. In 1999, with little interest and support from the Jersey Shore Running Club leadership, Art Castellano formed the New Jersey Road Runners Club (NJRRC) which is now the presenting club. The New Jersey Shore Marathon was renamed as the New Jersey Marathon-at the Jersey Shore. In 2005, Art Castellano was informed by the town of Sea Bright (a critical section of the course, at the exit from Sandy Hook) that, due to safety reasons, all sporting events were banned from the town’s roads.  Sea Bright has only one main road, and it runs north/south which was the same road used during the marathon. As always with this event, when one door closes another fortunately opens. The door that opened for us was Long Branch. Thanks to the support from the Mayor, City Council, residents and business community we were able to reinvent ourselves, again, as an urban marathon with a great half marathon course running through many diverse neighborhoods and business districts of Long Branch and Monmouth Beach and now with an oceanfront start and finish. The birth of the Long Branch Half Marathon to honor our “host city” and a 2-loop course for the now New Jersey Marathon began our new growth spurt. In 2005, and on our original course, we topped-off with a field of 2,000. In 2006, with our newly invented 2-loop course, we registered 4,000.  In 2007 we registered 6,500 with 45 states and 10 countries represented. In 2007 we instituted an 8,500 limit and closed registration for the first time weeks before the event date which was then moved to the first Sunday in May. As of this writing we are still staging the NJM Weekend on the first weekend in May with a new 10,000 registration limit, and implementing new ideas to allow for much larger fields: e.g, special NJ Transit “marathon” train from NYC Penn. Station to help “green” our event by keeping 1,000 cars off the road, central parking at Monmouth Racetrack to alleviate traffic congestion and parking problems, recruiting Pier Village as the site to stage our Runners’ Expo. Over the many years of directing the NJM I’ve used the quote, “The only thing that’s constant in staging a marathon is change”. We have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to make the needed changes to keep the NJM alive and prosperous. We have also been fortunate to have been able to maintain both the focus on the runners (and walkers) and on the community charities we support. In the mold of the original Jersey Shore Marathon, “The People’s Marathon”. We still do not attract elite runners since we do not offer prize money. Instead, we offer a “world-class” marathon for all, and a state running club (NJRRC) to support running and marathoning in New Jersey! This personal history of our NJM is dedicated to Eva Castellano who, even as a non-runner, has selflessly spent years working to both bring this event to life and to help New Jersey Marathon endure! Art Castellano, Director