By Donald Wittkowski
At 58 years old, Susan Reich is at an age that, for most people, means retirement is just around the corner.
But on a brisk November morning, Reich distinguished herself again as a top-level Jersey Shore athlete who repeatedly outshines other runners who are half her age or younger.
She was the top female finisher Saturday in the 21st annual Trail of Two Cities, a 5K race that connects Ocean City with Somers Point over the Route 52 Causeway. It is a challenging 3.1-mile course that features steep climbs and fast descents over a series of undulating bridges.
Reich finished in 20 minutes, 33 seconds, far ahead of any other female competitor. The next-closest female runner was 1 minute, 25 seconds behind her.
Of the field of 320 runners, only 13 men finished ahead of Reich. The race winner was Robert Sabo, a 53-year-old neurosurgeon from Margate who finished in 18:39. Sabo has run in the Trail of Two Cities before, but this was his first win, race organizers said.
Reich, who has lived in Ocean City for 29 years, was running on her home turf. Her dominating win in the women’s division added to her reputation as a legendary local runner and swimmer. She has been running for 30 years and has been an avid swimmer since childhood.
“I guess I haven’t stopped training,” Reich said of the secret of her longevity. “I don’t sit on the couch watching TV. I like to be outdoors.”
Wendy Moyle, Ocean City recreation manager and one of the race organizers, described Reich as a “superstar.”
“She is so humble. But she is a superstar. She is phenomenal,” Moyle said.
Reich is a swimming teacher at the Bright Stars Gymnastics Academy in Egg Harbor Township. In July, she finished fifth among the women in a one-mile ocean swim in Sea Isle City that attracted competitors from throughout the Northeast.
On Saturday, just before the Trail of Two Cities race began, Reich said she didn’t set any particular time as a goal for herself. Along with the other runners, she had to deal with chilly conditions. It was 37 degrees when the race got underway at 8 a.m. on the Ocean City side of the Route 52 Causeway. The finish line was in Somers Point’s Kennedy Park.
Twenty-one years ago, Ocean City public relations director Mark Soifer and then-Somers Point public relations director Nick Regina came up with the idea of linking both towns with a 5K race over the causeway. The roadway is closed to motor vehicle traffic during the race.
The race name is a parody of the famous Charles Dickens novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” Soifer, who is retiring at year’s end after serving 45 years as Ocean City’s public relations chief, said the run was an instant hit.
“It was big to begin with,” he said.
Normally, the race attracts about 400 runners. Moyle said 470 people pre-registered for Saturday’s race, but 320 competed. The race benefits the Somers Point Education Foundation and the Ocean City Recreation Department. It is one of a series of family-friendly events in Ocean City and Somers Point that help draw visitors to the shore during the fall season.
Members of the Berk family of Egg Harbor Township were on hand Saturday. Nathan Berk, 47, was joined by his 9-year-old son, Nathan Jr., in the race. Berk’s wife, Kim, 47, watched from the sidelines, along with the couple’s 7-year-old twins, Abigail and Jonathan.
Kim Berk normally runs, but took on the responsibility of watching the twins while Nathan ran in his first Trail of Two Cities race with his father.
“My kids really enjoy it, so we usually do it as a family,” Kim Berk said.
Berk said running helped her to cope with her chemotherapy sessions after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.
Just five months after she completed chemotherapy, she competed in her first marathon, in Atlantic City. She credited running with keeping her in excellent health now.
“I feel great,” she said.
