SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. \u2014 Organizers of a Marine Corps charity race in New Jersey marred by terrorism a year ago say they were forced to move Saturday\u2019s event to a neighboring town because of a sharp increase in registrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race\u2019s resumption a year after a bomb went off shortly before hundreds of runners were about to take off shows the region\u2019s resiliency, organizers say. But this year\u2019s Seaside Semper Five race will also have increased security, with trash cans removed along the race route in Seaside Heights and manhole covers sealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a jolt at first, but then it got me angry thinking that lots of people could have been hurt,\u201d said Tommy Leopold, 46, of Old Bridge, who was lined up to run in last year\u2019s event before it was canceled. \u201cWe had a good crowd of runners and their families out there that day, and we will again this year. It\u2019ll be a show of strength. We\u2019re ready to rock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase in runners comes as both a response to the bombing and shows people\u2019s support for the military, said race organizer Frank Costello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bomb was planted by Ahmad Khan Rahimi as the start of a two-day reign of terror in the region, authorities say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several hours after the blast, another bomb exploded in New York\u2019s Chelsea section, wounding 29 people. The next night, a homeless man and his friend alerted authorities after they found a backpack full of explosives in a trash can near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Five devices were in the bag, including one that exploded while a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rahimi, an Afghanistan-born man living in Elizabeth, was arrested the next morning after he was seriously injured in a shootout with police in Linden. He has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the bombings and is being held without bail while awaiting his trial , which is scheduled to start Oct. 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one was injured in the Seaside Park explosion, mostly because the start of the race had been delayed because of a large number of late entrants, or by the devices found in Elizabeth. But the situation frightened many in a region where the Sept. 11 attacks still reverberate strongly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said there\u2019s \u201cdefinitely a heightened sense of awareness,\u201d even though no similar incidents have occurred in the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGarbage cans, autos can now be used for very dangerous missions, where in the past no one would have given a second thought about them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s scary for many people, but it\u2019s made them more vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organizers of a Marine Corps charity race in New Jersey marred by terrorism a year ago say they were forced to move Saturday\u2019s event to a neighboring town because of a sharp increase in registrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":73185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":76,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[75,13],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5171],"class_list":["post-36569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-sports","category-off-duty"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7UAKGMA64BHWLBF7KFVQ6BM7P4","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/military-sports\/2017\/09\/15\/a-year-after-bombing-marine-corps-charity-race-comes-back-stronger\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n