Mens’ and womens’ teams from top schools compete when the eighth annual Rumson Boat Race takes to the the Navesink River Saturday. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge.)
When the first sunrise of autumn 2017 lights up the panoramic Navesink River environs this Saturday morning 23, mens’ and womens’ varsity rowing crews from five top schools will compete for the coveted Governor’s and Mayor’s Cups — and help raise funds for hometown athletes — during the Rumson Boat Race.
The fifth annual Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade caps a weekend of celebrations of Irish heritage Sunday.
It’s the kind of tradition that’s become something of a Celtic-cottage industry in itself: an event heralded by a full slate of fundraisers, competitions (essays, posters, soda bread), corned beef ‘n cabbage dinners, Irish seisuns, and even a “green tree lighting” ceremony that would give pause to Mr. Claus. All very appropriate to a ritual that’s been part of the fabric of local life for all of… four years.
Wait, what? While it’s true that the Rumson St. Patricks Day Parade is still in short pants, the annual occurrence has quickly assumed a pivotal place of prominence in community life. And when it returns for a fifth edition this Sunday, it will have cemented its staying power in the hearts of the Greater Red Bank Green, even as those minty Shamrock Shakes come and go.
After a string of days with temperatures in the 90s, things will cool off a bit on the Greater Red Bank Green Wednesday, according to forecasts. Under sunny skies, temperatures will peak at about 88 degrees, according to the Weather Underground, which should make work a bit easier for the crew refurbishing the cupola atop the United Methodist Church on Broad Street in Red Bank.(Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Tuesday’s camp activity schedule for Victory Park in Rumson was canceled after high winds and heavy rain tore through town Monday evening, leaving wires downed on Lafayette Street, above, and South Ward Avenue, right. Dozens of homes in Rumson, and hundreds in Middletown, lost electrical power in the storm, but nearly all were back online by dawn Tuesday, according to JCP&L.
Tuesday’s weather outlook is for most sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-90s. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The seventh annual Kids Triathlon for Bob Kelleher drew some hard-charging young athletes to Victory Park in Rumson for swim-bike-run competitions for kids aged 14 and under Sunday.
The event, held in memory of late First Aid squad member and triathlete Bob Kelleher, benefits the volunteer squad and the borough recreation program.
Race results will be posted here. redbankgreen has more pix after the jump. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
The sixth annual Kids Triathlon for Bob Kelleher drew some 180 youngsters to the Navesink River in Rumson for swim-bike-run competitions for kids aged 14 and under Sunday.
The event, held in memory of late First Aid squad member and triathlete Bob Kelleher, benefits the volunteer squad and the borough recreation program.
Race results are here. And redbankgreen has 48 more photos from the event, just after the jump. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
Jerry Conway, seen here in 2013, coordinates the annual Paddling for Kevin fundraiser, dedicated to the recovery of Middletown resident Kevin Kret, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2009 skateboard accident and remains in a coma.
Paddleboarders and kayakers are invited to take part in the June 20 event, which has raised more than $30,000 since 2011. It begins at Rumson’s Victory Park at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 20. Participants will paddle a 12-mile course out to Sea Bright and back to Red Bank before returning to Rumson.
Donations may be made by check to the International Brain Research Foundation and mailed to Paddling for Kevin Kret, c/o Jerry Conway, 744 Nut Swamp Road, Red Bank NJ 07701.
High school and college rowers had a gorgeous day on our beautiful Navesink River when they gathered for the fifth annual Rumson Boat Race out of Victory Park in Rumson Saturday morning. The event drew men’s and women’s varsity eights from Rutgers, Villanova, and 2014 Dad Vail Regatta champions Drexel University. It also helped raised funds for equipment used by rowing athletes at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. (Photos by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
The rowing team from Drexel University gets set to compete during a past edition of the Rumson Boat Race. The champions of the annual Dad Vail competition return to the Navesink River for this year’s edition of the event, on September 27.
Its past editions have been marked by the occasional unpredictability of the river Navesink — but on Saturday, September 27, the Rumson Boat Race returns to the waters off Victory Park for a fifth annual edition.
The collegiate rowing event — a competition that was spurred into being by the announced (but withdrawn) relocation of the high-profile Dad Vail Regatta to Rumson — will draw teams that include Men’s and Women’s Varsity 8+s from Rutgers, Villanova, and the 2014 Dad Vail Champions, Drexel University. Teams will race for the Governor’s Cups on the Navesink River, giving a boost in support of the blossoming rowing culture in the community — and in the process providing funding for the equipment used by rowing athletes at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School.
Paddlers and kayakers of all ability levels are invited to join a Shore Paddle on the Navesink event this Sunday, sponsored by Clean Ocean Action and Surfers Environmental Alliance.
You can do it by stand-up paddling (or, SUP) — you can get down and paddle it “prone” — or you can paddle your way by kayak. Whichever way you choose (and no matter how expert you’ve become at it), you’re invited to spend time with friendly competitors atop the waters of the Navesink River this Sunday, July 13, as a pair of locally based nonprofits team up to present a Shore Paddle event that commences from Rumson’s Victory Park at Lafayette Street.
Hosted by Clean Ocean Action and Surfers’ Environmental Alliance, the event runs two concurrent happenings — an 8-mile race that starts at 9 am, and a 3-mile Fun Paddle shoving off at 9:30 — with prizes awarded to the race winners, plus free SUP and yoga demos, eco-friendly crafts, and other all-ages activities in the park. The event will conclude with a “Beach Sweep” where participants will learn the importance of clean coasts.
It’s all for the benefit of COA and SEA, and it’s kickstarted on Thursday evening with a pre-party at Molly Maguire’s Gastropub in Rumson; a 6 pm soiree (with 10 per cent of proceeds dedicated to the orgs’ efforts to create cleaner, safer beaches throughout the region) that features music, drink specials, raffles of a wake board, paddle gear and more.
The fifth annual Kids Triathlon for Bob Kelleher drew hundreds of youngsters to the Navesink River in Rumson for swim-bike-run competitions for kids aged 14 and under Sunday. The event is a benefit for the borough First Aid Squad, and is run in memory of late squad member and triathlete Bob Kelleher. (Photos by Trish Russoniello. Mouseover to pause.)
Forget about sleeping in on Sunday, dads: Victory Park is the setting for a great recreational event this Father’s Day, with a Kids’ Triathlon that commences at 7:45 am.
Hot on the heels of the recent Nav-E-Sink or Swim 2014 — and the annual running of the Red Bank Triathlon in May — Rumson’s Victory Park will be the scene for a benefit recreational event designed to “wet” the curiosity of anyone on the lookout for a different sort of family-friendly activity this Father’s Day, June 15. The action starts early at 7:45 am, as the fifth annual Kids Triathlon for Bob Kelleher takes to the waters of the river Navesink for a slate of swim/ bike/ run events designed for young competitors in two age groups (8 and under, 9 to 14). Organized by Doug Rice’s Split Second Racing as a benefit for the Rumson First Aid Squad, the course offers medals to all finishers, and special guest announcer Patrick Kelleher, son of the late Tri-Athlete and borough First Aid captain for whom the race is named.
The June 12 Tri-District Music Festival will feature RFH student musicians along with their counterparts from Knollwood and Forrestdale schools.
An annual tradition for over 17 years, the Tri-District Music Festival brings together talented musicians and singers from Forrestdale School in Rumson and Knollwood School in Fair Haven, as well as from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. This year, for the first time, the Festival will be held at the outdoor venue — Victory Park, just off River Road in Rumson.
The performance will take place on Thursday, June 12 at 6 pm, with a rain date scheduled for the same time and place on Friday, June 13.
A school of competitive distance swimmers will take it to the river in the shadow of the Oceanic Bridge, during the annual Nav-e-Sink or Swim event that returns this Sunday morning to Rumson’s Victory Park.
“Sink or swim” might sound like a harsh choice in a recreational context, but when a field of competitive distance swimmers takes to the Navesink River this Sunday for the ninth annual Nav-e-Sink Or Swim Distance Festival, they’ll be playing to win in one of the area’s most enjoyable small race events — and making waves for a worthy cause.
A presentation of Split Second Racing and Doug Rice — the veteran race manager whose springtime schedule included last week’s Red Bank Triathon — the morning event is sponsored by The Budzyna Family as a fundraising vehicle for melanoma awareness, with two swim courses (1.2 miles and 2.4 miles) for men and women, as well as a 300 yard Kids Swim for ages 12 and younger.
World War II veteran Ray Taylor listens as Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli speaks at the borough’s annual Veterans Day celebration at Victory Park Sunday. Taylor, 90, also took a turn in front of the park’s doughboy statue, telling several dozen onlookers, “I’m glad to see so many of you here, mindful of what these boys gave.” (Click to enlarge)
10:21 a.m. Mark (left) and Michael (right) Montagu of New York City get a tennis lesson at Victory Park in Rumson. The twins are following in their tennis-loving father’s footsteps at the tender age of 4. (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
Wednesday was the first day of the outdoor season for members of RFH Rowing, the sculling crews of Rumson and Fair Haven teens.
The kids spent the session on dry land, at the club’s home next to Rumson’s Victory Park, where they rigged shells with oarlocks and other equipment duties they’re required to perform before and after away races. “It teaches them responsibility,” said assistant coach Dan Murphy. “They take ownership of their boats.” (Click to enlarge)
Shells and other gear remain at the site where a boathouse is envisioned. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A waterfront house acquired by Rumson three years ago was demolished over the holidays, moving the borough one stroke closer to its long-term goal of building a boathouse for rowing crews there someday.
Mayor John Ekdahl cautions, however, that no plans for such a facility have yet been drawn up. Nor has any necessary fundraising been organized, he tells redbankgreen.
Race organizers are hoping for better conditions than last year, when several boats were swamped, leading to a cancellation. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Give the Rumson rowing community credit: they keep putting their oars in the water.
Two years ago, they came tantalizingly close to landing one of collegiate rowing’s biggest events, the Dad Vail Regatta, but had their hearts broken when the event’s organizers decided to keep it where it had always been, in Philadelphia.
Then, a scaled-down collegiate regatta a year ago was scrapped during the second race, when wind-driven waves swamped several boats in the Navesink River, just off Victory Park.
But they’re back.
On Saturday, the 2011 Rumson Boat Race will take to the Navesink for four races on the Middletown side of the river, from the vicinity of a buoy opposite Bon Jovi’s mansion east toward the Oceanic Bridge.
Under the aegis of Rumson-Fair Haven boys basketball coach Chris Champeau, ‘Thursday Night Lights‘ hoops action is back at Rumson’s Victory Park for the second summer, with fivesomes that feature top high school, college and even a few pro players.
Jump ball on the first game of four is at 5:45 p.m., admittance is free, and Champeau, who doubles as the announcer, is quick off the dribble with lighthearted humor. (Click to enlarge)
Shots of Rumson’s 2011 edition of the Independence Day Fireworks, as seen from Victory Park, the Oceanic Bridge and surrounding areas.
As is the custom, the show, by Garden State Fireworks, was synched up with, and identical to (except in the size of the shells) the show upriver, between Red Bank and Middletown.
Photos by Dustin Racioppi. To enlarge the photo display, start it, then click the embiggen symbol in the lower right corner. To return to redbankgreen, hit the escape key.
And be sure to check out all our photo albums at Flickr.
Rumson’s fireworks will take place same time as Red Bank’s on July 3. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
While hundreds of thousands rub elbows to get a view of the Independence Day fireworks in Red Bank Sunday, just a few miles east, there’ll be a more subdued, but pyrotechnically identical, affair going on in Rumson.
The borough has put out information to all businesses and residents in advance of the show, warning of parking and traffic expectations, and where to catch the action.
Mens’ and womens’ teams from top schools compete when the eighth annual Rumson Boat Race takes to the the Navesink River Saturday. (Photo by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge.) 
