Runners head south on Ocean Avenue. Photo by Paul Goldfinger

By Yvette Blackman

The weather was perfect, and the Ocean Grove spectators who turned out to cheer for athletes in the New Jersey Marathon were hospitable. Runners and wheelchair racers started to arrive here at about 9:30 Sunday morning.

The hand-crank wheelchairs started coming through first.

The first male runner wore bib No. 4; the first female had bib No. 2748.

First runner all alone in OG. By Yvette Blackman

Our town was the southernmost point in the race, which started at 8 a.m. from the Long Branch promenade north of Pier Village.  This was the first time in the marathon’s 12-year history that the route passed through Ocean Grove.

As the athletes arrived in town, cheers went up from dozens of people lining the course. Former marathoner Carol Tischler, of Cookman Avenue, was waiting near the boardwalk Pavilion for her daughter, Lauren Sindel, who was running in her first marathon. Jane Brady and her friend Dana Christie drove down from Wyckoff, N.J., and had front-row seats on a friend’s porch at 5 Ocean Pathway.

Under sunny skies and with temperatures in the balmy mid-60s, the majority of the athletes started pouring in at about 11 a.m., three hours after the race’s start.

They found a water station set up near Central Avenue, operated by volunteers for Breast Friends Forever, a cancer awareness group started by two Middletown teenagers. Since its founding in 2007, the group has raised more than $200,000 for New Jerseyans diagnosed with breast cancer. The group had 26 runners in the marathon, each trying to raise $1,000 for the cause.

Erika Rech co-founded the group with her friend Michael Ruane. Their mothers were in charge of the water station at the Mile 19 marker.

“I don’t think I could have taught my daughter what she learned through this experience,” said Carol Rech, herself a five-year breast cancer survivor. Erika and Michael “know what courage looks like and they know what hope looks like.”

Marianne Ruane said her son Michael has helped several women through his fundraising efforts with Erika.

“They’re heroes and hard workers,” she said. “To say we’re proud of them is an understatement.”

Sunday’s event included two distinct races — the full 26.2-mile marathon and a half-marathon of 13.1 miles — plus a separate category for disabled contenders in hand-cranked wheelchairs.

More than 11,000 people participated, most of them in the half-marathon.

Go here for the marathon’s website, and more information.

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