The Verizon Corporate Classic is on July 13 Watch video
MORRISTOWN -- Organizers of a five-kilometer race that draws several thousand runners and company teams to Morristown want to re-route the course into Morris Township due to local construction.
Under a proposal approved 7-0 last week by the Morristown Council, about half of the 3.1-mile Verizon Corporate Classic on July 13 would be run in Morris Township, instead of entirely through Morristown.
Morris Township has given tentative approval to the new course pending a vote by its governing committee May 17, township Administrator Tim Quinn said.
State permits also are needed.
The annual company-themed event has existed in various forms in Morristown for more than 25 years. It typically draws more than 4,000 runners and 130 company teams.
Race director Dan Brennan outlined the reason for the change in a March 3 letter to Town Clerk Kevin Harris.
"In past years we have staged our event from either the Headquarters Plaza Pioneer Park or Morristown High School. This year, unfortunately, neither of those venues will be available to us due to ongoing construction projects," Brennan wrote in the letter provided Tuesday to NJ Advance Media.
Runners would start and finish by the Verizon building on Maple Avenue under the plan.
Instead of taking runners through the new neighborhoods of Morristown as in prior years, the requested course is mostly an out-and-back along Route 202, with runners turning around at the halfway point on Harter Road in Morris Township.
The traditional starting time of the race, 7:30 p.m., would stay the same.
Brennan said Tuesday that his expectation is for the full course to return to Morristown in 2018.
Headquarters Plaza, until 2015, hosted the race's start and finish.
The staging area was moved to Morristown High School in 2016. That race, though, was canceled after a storm downed trees and power lines.
The race entry field on July 13 will be capped at 5,000.
Rob Jennings can be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.