‘Corzine’ Roach Takes New Jersey ‘Cockroach Derby’

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - A giant hissing Madagascar cockroach designated as “Jon Corzine” was the clear winner in the famed annual Cockroach Derby sponsored by the New Jersey Pest Management Association. The “Chris Christie” roach representing his Republican opponent in the November election did not prove fast enough on his six legs. (Click here to watch video of this race).

Racing down a six-foot long Plexiglas track, the two roaches, the largest of all cockroach species, delighted the crowd composed of pest management professionals attending the annual, day-long series of seminars sponsored by the Association. The event was held by Hickman Hall on the Cook College campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

“In the same fashion as last year, when we ran an ‘Obama’ versus a ‘McCain’ roach, the race was over in a flash, but it was the McCain roach that won,” said Leonard Douglen, the association’s Executive Director. 

Thus the predictive power of the Cockroach Derby can be seriously questioned. Earlier races featured political contenders had mixed success as well.

This year was the 15th annual running of the roaches, an event that occurs at midday in the vast vendor’s tent where all kinds of products used by pest control professionals are on display.

“The Association was founded in 1941 and this year’s Clinic is the 62nd year in which members of the profession came together to learn from some of the nation’s experts aspects of entomology and pest control techniques,” said Douglen.

Members also secured needed certification credits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. All pest control firms must be licensed and their technicians must be annually certified, denoting they have received on-going education in their profession.