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Running man BARC member Joe Conroy sets sights on some of ultra running’s biggest bucket list races By JOe eMANsKi This January, many people will declare that 2023 will be the year that they finally start exercising. Only some will honor these promises to themselves. Joe Conroy is one person who has kept his resolve. More than two decades ago, the Bordentown City resident joined the Running Company of Haddonfield on its weekly group runs. He joined, he says, to get into better shape, and also for the social aspect. It turned out to be a great decision. Now 47, Conroy still runs 15 hours a week or more, including weekly runs with the Bordentown Area Running Club, or BARC for short. BARC, formed in 2013, is full of locals who, like Conroy, have committed to keeping up with regular exercise in the effort to keep in shape. They meet Wednesday nights at Tindall Road Brewing Company on Farnsworth Avenue before taking a group jaunt around the city. If they have a beer or two afterward, well — that’s fair reward for keeping at it week after week.
Conroy enjoys these runs. But more and more over the years, he has also sought something more challenging — grueling, even. Conroy has been pushing himself on longer and longer runs. He’s become what’s known as an ultra runner. In summers, he has taken to running what he calls the Three Brewery 50K, starting in Bordentown and continuing along the Delaware River Heritage Trail through Roebling, Florence and other river towns on down to Camden. On that run, he passes Tindall Road, Third State Brewing in Burlington City and Double Nickel Brewing in Pennsauken. The breweries, alas, are only landmarks. No beers along the way — not if he wants to finish. The excursion is longer than a marathon, and there are no medals at the end. Just the satisfaction of a run well run. He takes the River Line home. Several years ago, Conroy started these types of runs in training for what he hoped would be his first 100-mile run: the New Jersey Devil 100, a 100mile trail race through the Pine Barrens. The race, organized by Beast Coast Productions LLC, was originally set for 2020, but canceled that year, as well as 2021 and 2022, because of the Covid pandemic. The race is on again for this see RUNNING, Page 8
An aerial photograph of Bordentown with the area of Bordentown’s proposed waterfront park outlined. (Photo by Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Co.)
Township presents latest plans for new park along the Delaware By sUe FerrArA In 2020, while we navigated the pandemic, a 50-year-old nonprofit called American Rivers named the Delaware River its River of the Year for “momentous progress for water quality, river restoration and community revitalization.” With the announcement, Bob Irvin, president and CEO of American Rivers, called the Delaware
River “a national success story” thanks to “the hard work of many local advocates who understand that a healthy Delaware River is vital to the health of millions of people.” According to American Rivers, more than 17 million people get their drinking water from the Delaware River basin, including New York City and Philadelphia. The Delaware river begins in Hancock, New York, and flows
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through five states on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Adding to that continued success in 2020 was the Bordentown Township Committee, which made the commitment to acquire 72 acres of land along the Delaware, saving it from a housing redevelopment. The move by the township also set into motion plans to preserve see PARK, Page 6
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