Polar Bear races, plunge goes on in Asbury Park despite snow

Polar Bear races, plunge goes
on in Asbury Park despite
snow

KIM PREDHAM LUEDDEKE • December 26, 2010

ASBURY PARK — In 47 years, the Shore Athletic
Club of New Jersey has never canceled its Polar Bear
Races.

So for a little thing like snow … even a predicted 16
or more inches … organizers weren't about to call
off Sunday's post-Christmas race along the Asbury
Park boardwalk.

"This was not the worst year,'' Harry Nolan, who has
competed in every Polar Bear race since it began,
told a hardy crowd of runners and fans who stuck
around for a post-race awards ceremony in the
Grand Arcade.

Believed to be the oldest 5-mile run in the nation,
the Shore Athletic Club's annual Polar Bear Race is a
tradition for many area runners. The race was
preceded Sunday by a 10-mile walk won by 24-
year-old Andres Chocho of Ecuador, who completed
the walk in 1 hour, 35 minutes and 1 second.

Nolan, 63, of Middletown, has run in the Polar Bear
Race when the temperature was five below zero, and
when the race course was "pure ice.'' Even so, even
he considered skipping this year's race when he saw
the snow start to fall.

"Any other race, I'd probably go back to bed,'' he
said.

But Nolan did show up, one of 117 runners who
finished the Polar Bear Race, which was cut to three
miles this year because of the weather. Many of the
competitors were bundled up in sweatpants and
jackets to ward off the sleeting snow and chilly
temperatures.

"It was intense,'' said Howell native Joe Rooney, the
first to cross the finish line at 18 minutes 33
seconds.

Rooney, a triathlete, guessed he has run in the
Polar Bear Race four times. This year, he said, "It was
kind of rough. But there was a lot of energy out
there.''

The first female to complete the race was Allison
Linnell of Colts Neck, who runs for University of
Washington's cross-country team.

Linnell, 20, clocked in at 18 minutes 54 seconds.

Ice formed on her eyelashes as she ran and she
could barely see, Linnell said after the race. But, she
said, "It was fun ... Definitely makes you tougher.''

Runners probably got a boost from the sight and
sounds of Dave DeMonico, a fixture at the Polar Bear
Races for years now.

The Ocean Township resident was out there on the
boards once again this year, wearing his trademark
Santa suit and playing tunes on his trumpet for the
competitors.

"It's fun. People seem to like it,'' DeMonico, 43, said
Sunday.

DeMonico was also the one to start another
enduring tradition, the annual plunge into the
Atlantic Ocean after the race.

Immediately following the race Sunday, runners
stripped down to shorts, sports bras and even
bikinis for a quick dip in the rough surf.

Greg Capriotti of Middletown celebrated his 25
birthday by taking the plunge for the first time ever.

"It was actually so cold that you stop feeling,'' said
Capriotti.

Kim Predham Lueddeke: 732-308-7752;