Bernardsville Half Marathon

Bernardsville, NJ

At the height of the running boom, it seemed, just about every town big enough in America hosted some kind of road race or seasonal foot race or race series. Bernardsville was no exception.

Brad Hudson.

The history is a little difficult to find, but from the late 1970s through at least the early part of the 1980s, the Bernardsville Half Marathon was run up and over the Bernardsville Mountain. The race was run in March when the weather was just starting to clear. Snow often hung on in the shady parts of the town on race day.

Meg Waldron.

The half marathon started on Olcott Avenue in front of the High School and proceeded up to Old Army Road all the way to Hardscrabble. Then up and over Washington Corner Road onto the mountain finally winding it’s way back down to the finish in front of the high school’s Olcott Building, named after Frederick P. Olcott (1841–1909), a Bernardsville mountain colony resident who was president of the Central Trust Company in New York which later was merged with JP Morgan.

Amy Meyer.

John Dwyer, Andy Hart, Paul Stogryn.

The event also hosted a 3-mile “fun run” that, while designed to be for the racers not up to the longer distance, often featured some quick-footed runners.

MMRD Masters runner.

The fun run started just a few meters behind the half marathon start line and proceeded along the same route as the famed 20-course for a mile or so. Then it turned up, up, up a steady incline on Old Farm Road until it met Old Army and made a left past the old Tommy Dorsey estate, Tall Oaks, and back toward the high school.

3-mile “fun run”