RWJBarnabas Health and the New Jersey Devils are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Running with the Devils 5K Run & Walk this fall, an event that has grown from a modest 238 participants at its launch to more than 2,600 runners, walkers and youth skaters. The race returns to the South Mountain Recreation Complex in West Orange on November 1, drawing families, competitive runners and hockey fans back to the same Essex County grounds that have hosted it since the beginning.
According to ROI-NJ, the event now includes a competitive 5K on a USA Track & Field-certified course, a wellness walk, virtual participation, and a youth hockey skate. The competitive run and wellness walk take place along Cherry Lane and the reservoir, running through terrain inside a park system with deep roots: Essex County's parks agency, established March 5, 1895, was the first county park system created in the United States, according to Essex County Parks. The reservoir loop itself sits within South Mountain Reservation, a more than 2,000-acre expanse stretching across West Orange, Maplewood and Millburn, with a 1.7-mile paved walkway around the Orange Reservoir serving as the course for the wellness walk.
A Three-Decade Partnership Behind the Race
The event is the product of a partnership between RWJBarnabas Health and the Devils that spans more than 30 years, per the same ROI-NJ report. That relationship deepened in 2024 when the Devils made RWJBarnabas Health the team's first-ever official home jersey patch partner, expanding what NHL.com described as a long-standing alliance between the healthcare network and New Jersey's only NHL franchise.
Mark E. Manigan, president and CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, said the event has brought the health system and the community together around better health and well-being, according to ROI-NJ's reporting. Race proceeds will support RWJBarnabas Health programs and services across New Jersey, including children's health, behavioral health, cancer care, emergency medicine, heart and vascular care, neurosciences, nursing education, orthopedics and women's health. RWJBarnabas Health operates as New Jersey's largest academic healthcare system, employing more than 45,000 people across 14 system hospitals that serve over five million patients annually, according to RWJBarnabas Health.
Youth Skaters Take the Ice at Codey Arena
On October 4, more than 100 Devils youth hockey players are expected to take part in a 5K skate consisting of 40 laps around the ice at Codey Arena, per ROI-NJ. The rink opened in 1958 and served as the original practice facility for the Devils before the team shifted its primary training operations to Newark, according to Essex County Parks. Turtle Back Zoo sits adjacent to the 5K course; the zoo opened in 1963, occupies 20 acres, and holds accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums while drawing nearly one million visitors annually, per Wikipedia. Registered runners and walkers will receive admission to the zoo on event day, and virtual participants get one-day access between November 2 and December 30.
Virtual Options Expand the Race Beyond Essex County
Virtual participation runs from October 1 through November 1, letting registrants log miles on neighborhood routes, in parks, or on treadmills. Those who sign up remotely can choose either a traditional timed run or a cumulative challenge that requires logging progress until they reach 3.1 miles, and both options make participants eligible for prizes. In 2026, virtual runners are using the RunGo mobile app to access customized GPS routes paired with recorded motivational messages from Devils players and RWJBarnabas Health patients, according to RunSignup.
Race-day festivities will include appearances from Devils mascot NJ Devil, team alumni, and mascots representing New Jersey universities and professional sports teams, with family-friendly activities planned after the race concludes. Top-fundraising race teams will also earn an exclusive ice-skating party at the RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House inside Newark's Prudential Center, a facility for which RWJBarnabas Health holds naming rights, according to NHL.com.
From 238 Runners to a Decade-Long Tradition
Jake Reynolds, president of the New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center, said the event has become much more than a race, per ROI-NJ's account. The race's growth traces back years: the third annual event in 2019 already drew over 2,000 runners and walkers and raised $125,000 for RWJBarnabas Health medical services, according to Jersey's Best. Now in its 10th year, the race stands as one of the more visible symbols of how the state's largest health system and its lone NHL team have built a shared civic footprint in Essex County, one lap around the Orange Reservoir at a time.
