The second road race of the fall Masters Grand Prix season is set to take place this Sunday, September 15 in Highlands, New Jersey. The 2024 USATF Masters 12 km Championships will be run on the roads of Sandy Hook National Gateway and Recreation Area, which has seen four American records broken in the last three years. Overall, age grading, age division, and team titles are at stake. Roberta Groner looms as the women’s overall favorite. As the top American marathon finisher at the Doha World Championships, Groner knows what it’s like to run in warm conditions. She won here three years ago and has not slowed down since. This summer, Groner cracked a 34:01 10K as she won the Queens 10K in New York. Elizabeth Wakeling, who finished third here last year, will try to deny Groner the win. Karen Bertasso, boasts two sub-1:19 half marathons in 2023, and Sarah Bishop, who ran a sub-1:17 half marathon in 2018, are also top contenders for the podium. Brian Flynn returns to defend his 2023 men’s overall title. He finished fourth overall and first masters athlete last month in 1:11:17 at the Ashland Half Marathon in Virginia, which shows that Flynn is fit and ready to roll. Mario Vazquez won the 2023 Masters 10 km Championships and finished second this year, cracking 32 minutes both times. With 1:07:53 and 1:10:26 half marathons recorded this summer, Vazquez is, arguably, the favorite. Fabian Daza, who finished fourth here last year, is also ready to challenge; he clocked a 1:10:54 at the Jersey City Half Marathon in April. David Angell has had two top-10 finishes here in the past with an injured ankle. With that healed, he claimed a podium spot at the 2023 USATF Masters 10 km Championships and just finished second at the USATF Masters 10 Mile Championships in Flint, Michigan. Dickson Mercer, sixth last year, was fifth at the 2024 USATF Masters 10 km Championships and finished as the second masters athlete at the prestigious Cherry Blossom Ten Mile in Washington, D.C. Michael Dixon and Joseph Gaynor, who finished seventh and eighth here last year will try to move up. Nat Larson, who holds all the M60 American road records from the mile to the half marathon, will compete once again with Rick Becker for the top age grading prize, symbolic of the best performance across all age divisions. Becker, a three-time masters Harrier of the Year, enjoyed the prize at their last meeting two years ago with an edge of just 0.04 percentage points. Other top contenders include Vazquez, Brian Crowley, Rick Lee, and Ken Youngers. Last year Larson and Lee went one-two here, with Crowley fifth. Becker and Youngers went one-three at the USATF Masters 10 Mile Championships last month. In the women’s contest, Nora Cary goes for two in a row. The winner at Flint with a score of 100.26%, Cary enters the favorite. Suzanne La Burt, who finished second to Cary in Flint at 97.27%, along with Groner, Hortencia Aliaga, Fiona Bayly and Mary Cass will make sure the winner has earned it. Last year Cary, Cass, and La Burt finished second, third, and fifth in age grading at this event. Bayly typically grades over 90% and Aliaga’s 10K bronze medal at the World Masters Athletics Championships earned 90.33%. The Shore Athletic Club, the home club, has strong teams entered in every division. Their New Jersey rivals, Fleet Feet/Essex Racing and Garden State are taking a more targeted approach. The Atlanta Track Club brings three competitive men’s teams while the Genesee Valley Harriers, from upstate New York, bring two, and Michigan’s Ann Arbor Track Club and the Bay State’s Greater Springfield Track Club one each. Also out of Massachusetts is the Liberty Athletic Club, contesting W60+ with Shore and the San Francisco Bay’s Impala Racing. The Greater Philadelphia Track Club contests the W50+ podium. Several other New Jersey clubs will attempt to break onto the podium with one or more teams. Contributed by Paul Carlin