The Flyer - Winter 2002

This year’s annual banquet was held on November 17th at the Arbor Brewing Company. The turnout was fantastic and the food was excellent and plentiful. It was nice to see some members who have not attended in recent years and to gather together to recognize many of our members. Elections were held with a slate of new board members being selected including Jamie Cope snd Rick Stevens. Retiring Board Members included Anna Schork, Susan Jones, Robin Sarris-Hallop.

Hal Wolfe did another outstanding job as master of ceremonies announcing the following awards:

Gary Rizzo: Male Athlete of the Year had an exceptional year competing in the over 50 age group.
5K – 17:33, 10K – 36:52, 10 mile – 60:52, half marathon – 1:24. Presented by Peter Hallop.

Robin Sarris-Hallop: Female Athlete of the Year competed in 22 races in 2002 from 5K to the half-marathon. Some of the results: RRCA National Master Champion -39:43, Michigan Master Runner of the Year 2002 (Michigan Runner Magazine), MI. Master Champion for 8K and 15K, Michigan Master Age Group Champion 5K, 8M, 10M, 20K, and half marathon. Age group winner Crim 10-Mile- 67:21, Master winner at For Women Only 5K (2nd overall) Race for Cure Battle Creek (2nd overall). Presented by Anna Schork.

Alan Caldwell: Male Most Improved Runner of the Year, until 2002, ran 10 miles/week and did occasional 5K races. This year Alan has done 11 races (5/10/15/20Ks, 10Mi, 2 1/2Ma, and 1 Ma) He has taken a minute off his best previous 5K breaking 20:00 and five minutes off his earlier 1/2 marathon time (1:36). In his first marathon in Detroit, he qualified for Boston with a 3:25. He has been frequent volunteer at AATC events and participates in Tuesday Night Workouts, Thursday Night Cross Country Runs, and Crazy Runs. Presented by Jim Coleman.

Simone Kleinschmidt: Female Most Improved Runner of the Year, in August 2001, could not run 3 consecutive miles. At Crim 2002, she completed the 10 mile race at 8:00 pace. Presented by Kathleen Gina.

Volunteers of the Year (based on point totals from club events): Bill Hill, Joanie Rogucki and Ginny Jakes. Presented by Kathleen Gina.

Race of the Year: Dexter-Ann Arbor Half Marathon

Youth Awards:

Youth Athletes of the Year:  Carter Johnson and  Alexa Geider

Most Improved Youth of the Year:  Drake Johnson and Alison Cupp

Elmo Award:  Ron Beasley. Presented by Ron Olson.

Golden Groan Awards:
Unsung Hero Award: Peter Hallop (with honorable mention to Ren for lugging water around)
Injury Award: Roberto Rastelli (for a bike accident, pulled hamstring and knee problems)
Ghost Award: Anna Schork
Luck of the Irish Award: Ron Olson (1:30 late to the Shamrock Run start and had his finish time adjusted)
Wish you were here Award: Sara Boudouris

Flyer Award: Robin Sarris-Hallop

Great Lakes Relay Team Award MVP: Julie Wagner

Tuesday Morning Women Runners:
Token Male Award: Dick Fortune
Team Spirit Award: Susan Jones
Ever-Ready Bunny Award: Grace Harrison

Wednesday Night Runners:
Slacker of the Year Award: Lynn Olson

Run Like Hal Award: Mike Castle

Give ‘em a Hand Award: Anita James

Awards Committee: Mark Kerr, Marvin Nieman, Amy Wolkgang, and Hal Wolfe.

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What’s that – did I hear that right? Did someone say that they wanted to say something about a sport other than running in the track club’s newsletter? Yup, you bet yer sweet bippy. Running’s great and all, but sometimes I even run out of things to say about it. Plus most of us are versatile enough to appreciate some cross training now and then, and cycling is a great way to workout, no doubt about it. So, biking. I had always wanted to take a bike touring vacation, but I’d never done one until a trip to Washington late last August for a family reunion. But since my brother Al and I (yes, you heard me, Hal and Al…) often travel together, I figured it would make for a good chance to do something fun first, plus 10 days with my family would drive me bonkers. Al suggested biking around the San Juan Islands in the NW corner of the state. He said there were ferries and campsites and all. It sounded ok, so we started planning.

The ferries leave from a small town called Anacortes. The ferry was awesome. Way bigger than the Mackinac Island ferries. Three levels and it even had a cafeteria on board. There was an interesting combination of tourists and locals on board, eating, reading, site seeing, taking naps. Sorta seemed like an weird cross between an airliner and a subway, but on a boat, see. The San Juans have 4 main islands: Friday Harbor, Orcas, Lopez and Shaw. We were camping on Shaw Island, the smallest of the 4, and making day trips from there. The ferry got there at 12:45. Further examination of the schedule told us that the inter-island ferry stopped at Shaw right after the coastal ferry, and departed at 1 PM for Friday Harbor. The next ferry was at 4, which would shoot most of the day. But the campsite was 2 miles away. We had to ride there with full packs, set up the tent, stuff our day packs and make it back all in 15 minutes. We could do it! The thing I hadn’t counted on was the huge hill between us and the campsite. Up hill with full packs in a hurry on a bike, well it was no picnic, that’s for sure, but we made it back before the nuns who run the ferry station (yes, a coven of Franciscan nuns operate a store and the ramp) closed the gate.

Friday Harbor has some of the nicest coastal scenery around and the best chance for whale sightings. After we got a ways out of town, we found a big briar patch full of plump, ripe blackberries. We stopped and started eating like hungry bears. The berries were delicious, the view of the ocean was spectacular and I was sure we were in heaven. But let me make one thing clear – the biking there could be really tough. There were a lot of steep hills that left us both in about the lowest gear a mountain bike had to offer and still standing up on the pedals on every stroke. But, going down them was fantastic. It took a few hills to get comfortable with the bikes at high speeds. We were certainly doing at least 50 going down some of them. Goggles would have helped my teary eyes, but man, what a rush. I wouldn’t want to ride those hills in the rain, but we were lucky with the weather and got none. And when we weren’t in view of the ocean, the gargantuan trees - 200’ Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir - could be even more beautiful.

After a whale-free afternoon ride around the island, we had dinner and later caught the last ferry off of Friday Harbor for the night. In the last hour we must have checked our watches every 2 minutes. That was the one downside of the maritime adventure – the ferry schedule has no provision for tardiness, but we were back to the friendly nuns on Shaw a little after 11. However neither of us had remembered to grab a flashlight earlier, and there was no moon, and worse yet, it was foggy. Rats. It was a much slower ride than before, and there were deer all over the place – including the road – but we finally made it to camp safely. The next day we took the ferry to Orcas Island, rode all morning and then took a whale watching charter all afternoon. The boat ride was fantastic. No killer whales, but plenty of bald eagles, deer and elk on nearby shores, and most of all some incredible bow riding porpoises. I’d never seen any thing like it. Everyone on board was mesmerized. Those agile, darting porpoises made the whole boat ride worth while.

Our last day we first rode around Shaw a bit, and stopped at a one room school house there and had an interesting chat with the teacher. After that we took the ferry to Lopez which is considered the most biker friendly island. There were still plenty of hills, but not quite so steep, and still plenty of black berry thickets and forests of giant pine trees. I can’t say enough about this trip. Touring the area on bicycles turned it into an awesome adventure of fun and fitness. The rest of the vacation went well all in all, and my family and I didn’t quite kill each other, but man, those three days hopping the inter-island ferries around the San Juans like wild, bike-riding, berry-eating fools, those memories are locked away for a lifetime.

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On and Off the Track
Compiled by Robin Sarris-Hallop

Bravo to Patricia Ball and the members of her Detroit Marathon Committee for not only keeping our hometown marathon alive but launching it on an upward trajectory that should guarantee its success for several years to come. The new course is exciting, offers great spectator support, and the addition of the relay events is helping to increase the field. Let’s hope more and more Michiganders choose to run their fall marathon close to home! Thank you to all of our club members who ran the race, staffed aid stations, cheered out on the course, or served as support crew for a friend or family member.

Recently, I had an opportunity to experience how exciting and rewarding race volunteering can be at one of these big events. As a frequent racer with an over committed schedule, I don’t often get the chance to assist during a race. This year, because Peter and I annually visit Chicago to watch the marathon, I volunteered through the RRCA to help at the first aid station in the race. It was even more of an adventure than I anticipated. I arrived at 5:30 in the morning, well before sunrise, to join close to 200 members of Chicago area running clubs helping at the 2-mile point (on State St. in front of Marshall Fields). Each of us received a bright yellow jacket and hat (courtesy of New Balance and American Airlines) which was much appreciated in the 40 degree, windy weather. We started by lining a city block of the six-lane street with about 20 tables on each side (spaced equi-distantly with a measured string!). We then split into groups of 5 to a table and began filling stacked rows of cups with bottled water. (Gatorade was supplied at the other ½ of the tables). The windy conditions made the task a bit slow going but we were ready with time to spare (the +31,000 field passes so quickly that there is no time for filling cups once the racers start to flood by). We were instructed (and gladly obeyed) not to impede the elite runners in any way. It was a special moment watching them pass (most of you know the incredible outcomes of the race that morning) on their way to some blazing times. Within minutes we were surrounded by the remainder of the field. Being early in the race, the pack was tightly clumped and it was impossible to pick out familiar faces or to do more than focus on passing cups to open hands. I was really touched at how many people managed to thank us on their way by. Within ½ an hour of the first runners, the entire field had passed and within another 15 minutes, using rakes, rubber gloves and lots of garbage bags, we had cleared over 25,000 smashed cups off the street to the point that you could not even tell a race had come through! Not one piece of garbage was left!!! When I relayed this story to a friend of mine from Chicago, his reply was “that is why they call Chicago the city that works!” I guess so!!! If you never have, I encourage you to try a major race from the other side of the curb.... It was really energizing — and I did make it to the finish line in time to see the leaders finish.... another story for another day.

Rich Stark was a member of the Bucknell Alumni Distance Team which captured overall honors and set a new course record of 18:43:33 (5:36 per mile) at the Reach the Beach Relay held September 27-28 in New Hamsphire. Similar to the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon, RTB is a 200 mile event starting at the Bretton Woods ski resort near Mt. Washington and finishing at Hampton Beach State Park, just south of Portsmouth. The course weaves through the foothills of the White Mountains and includes a number of small, picturesque New England villages. Unfortunately, the remnants of Hurricane Isidore made this year’s event a soggy affair as torrential rain and gusting winds accompanied the runners (and support crews!). Bucknell was represented by three alumni teams, including a master’s team which finished 4th overall (out of 166 teams) with a 6:26 per mile average. Two weeks after RTB, Rich traveled to Scranton, PA, to participate in his “hometown” race, the Steamtown Marathon, and to support his sister in her first marathon. Lingering fatigue from RTB prevented a “competitive” race, but he enjoyed the cheers from family and friends and watched his sister finish strong in 4:21:33. Rich hopes to be recovered from his RTB/Steamtown “double” in time to run Grandma’s Marathon in June.

News from the Youth Group: The AAU Youth National Championships were held in Ames, Iowa with the following official results: Carter Johnson (13:44:59, 55th); Drake Johnson (14:40, 95th); Victor Phillips (18:07, 141st) in the 3K and Maggie Travin (23:57.19, 61st) in the 5K. Megan Brown, Alexa Geider, and Sonia Phillips also ran, but the official results for are still being sorted out. Currently we have “unofficial times” of: Megan Brown -15:30.29; Alexa Geider  - 17:46.10; Sonia Phillips - 17:09.41.

Nicholas Hill came in 2nd place in the shotput in the state competition even though he only picked up the shotput for the first time 5 days before the competition in Canton.  He had a couple of hours practice on Tuesday and then a couple of hours on Thursday.  The state competition was then held on Saturday.  His mother Kely is very proud of his “extreme acomplishment”.

At the ChannelKats Invitational, held on Belle Isle on October 12th, eight youth members competed. In the 2K, Drake Johnson ran 8:14; Alexa Geider, 10:32; Tarun Prashanth, 10:57 and Victor Philips, 10:18. In the 3K, Carter Johnson ran 12:45; Neil Keicher, 12:55; Megan Brown, 14:08; and Victor Phillips 15:17.

West Coast Update from Ray Schubert: “Thanks for the well wishes on my race (Silicon Valley Marathon). Yes, that’s right — I qualified. Thanks to a fast course, perfect weather, a great cheering section, no bathroom breaks, no walking for fuel, and a familiar course, I made it with just about a minute to spare! This qualifying business is Tough! Luckily I had built up a bit of a cushion for the end, because the last 5 miles were rough — 7’25", 7’29", 7’31", 7’48", and 9’33" for the last 1.2. I was falling like a stone. I missed the last mile mark, and since I was running at my max. speed at that point (which could have been anywhere from a 6 – 10 min/mile pace) I wasn’t sure I was going to make it until I saw Emily and she told me “30 seconds from here”. If she’d said “1 minute from here” I might have collapsed right there. As you can see from the attached picture(see page 9) from a friend — I wasn’t feeling too well coming in. And no, I wasn’t wearing any Halloween make-up for the race! I don’t know what he means about looking strong — looking dead is more like it. So, on to recovery and then Boston with Emily. I think I’ll be running at a more leisurely pace and try to enjoy it.” Ray’s finishing time 3:09:59. Emily (Clark) called it “a real nail-biter”.

Sally Goshorn (formerly Wacker): “At last! I qualified for Boston at the Columbus Marathon on Sunday.  Having crashed and burned at Tucson—the continuous downhill killed my quads and calves, and having missed qualifying at Green Bay by 4 minutes (heat wave together with high humidity cooked me), I was so happy to hit a perfect day (40’s and low 50’s) and a great course.  The last 6 miles were mostly downhill—perfect to end a marathon.  I came in second in my age group (60-64), which was nice, but not as nice as qualifying.  Time was 4:23:29.” Eva Solomon ran the Columbus Marathon with Melissa Sundermann. Eva finished in 3:27 and Melissa ran 3:28. Other club members running included Jeff Barnett (3:22:40); John Farah (3:37:34) and Barb Mackey (3:46:29). Tom Bourque submitted this photo of five “Nasty Boys Glee Club” members crossing the finish line together at the Marine Corps Marathon in a Boston qualifying time of 3:26:31. The runners are left to right: Rich Tolman, Mitch Garner, Mark Supiano, Tom Bourque and Dave Mengebier. Nort Fogel and Dave Huntoon ran with them most of the way and finished a few minutes back.

Karen McKeachie, Lisa Hesse, Ann Remmers, Wanda Gunderson, and Nancy Cassell (all masters runners) finished first overall among the five person women’s teams and broke the course record by 32:16 (also setting the masters course record) at the Detroit Free Press/Flagstart Bank International Marathon. Club members placing in their age divisions included Dave Furey (3rd 40-44 2:48:23); Gerard Malaczynski (1st 60-64 3:00:30); Renee Vettorello (1st 55-59 4:00:08).

Doug Dormer is proud to submit that “after being a member of the AATC for three years, I finally have something for the news letter: I ran the Chicago Marathon on October 13. At 47 years old, this was my first marathon. I finished in 4:43, sporting my AATC hat all the way.” Other club Chicago Marathon times: Tim Fraleigh (2:35:26); Mika LaVaque-Manty (2:53:21);Craig North (2:59:39); Keith Baar (3:16:16); Ann Curzan (3:24:30); Robert Stoler (3:28:59); Bernhard Schoenlinner (3:30:20); Sarah Bauer (3:32:25); Karen Yamada (3:43:14); Jim Coleman (3:45:10); Theresa Kopach (3:58:25); Carol Swaney (4:37:52); Beth Freitas (4:38:24); Ren Snyder (4:50:18); and Joan Berman (5:19:00).

AATC Twin Cities Marathon strong performances included Eric Bates (3:22:45), David Bates (3:13:31) and John Farah (3:15:41).

Ann Remmers returned to the marathon with a 3:28:03 in Philadephia last month. It is great to see Ann running this kind of distance again!

Doug Goodhue won an award in his age group (60-64) at the USATF convention in the Masters Long Distance Running division. Congrats to Doug!

Holiday races: At the Tortoise and Hare Hell-o-ween 10K, Dave Furey took home the masters prize in 38:55; Ron Olson won the 50-54 in 48:17; Wally Herrala won 55-59 in 42:44; Grace Harrison won 55-59 in 50:13, Dan Gamble 60-64 in 52:11 and Ellen Nitz 60-64 in 1:03:38. At the Big Bird 10K, club performances included Peter Hallop (37:09); Gary Rizzo (39:09); William Garrity (49:00) and overall woman’s winner Robin Sarris-Hallop (40:42). At the Christmas Stocking Four Mile in Flushing, Julie Wagner won the 30-34 (27:57) and Jim Forshee won the 70-89 in 31:27.

Mike Castle has recently married and is soon moving to France to live a life of marital bliss with his newly betrothed...

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I woke up late. I did not remember where the race was that I was to run that morning. I did get to the race in “the nick of time”. Sound familiar? That was how my morning started before the ACHIEVE run/walk. I would not be running alone! I would be a “running buddy”.

As I entered Burns Park subdivision, I looked at my watch and told myself I would not want to run with someone who couldn’t even organize well enough to know where they should be. I looked in the mirror, and realized I was doing it again. I had become the “stupid person again”. I don’t indulge in that too often, just often enough to know I don’t want to stay there.

I digress, back to the ACHIEVE run. My adrenaline is really flowing as I jump out of the car, and hurry towards the Burns Park shelter. I register and look around for familiar faces. I’m excited but tentative about running as a buddy. I don’t know what that means, I expect I will find out. A very special registration volunteer points me toward the coordinator of the buddies.

This volunteer is only one of a few tall people in the group. I remember that I’m running with a young girl, approximately 8-10 years old. The volunteer looks at her list and asks me if I would like to run with two girls. “Sure”, I said. To myself, I’m wondering what it will be like.

I meet the young ladies I am to run with and their mothers. Isabelle and Marissa are both in the 3rd grade at Bach School. They are in the same class together and are part of the “Girls on the Run”, program.

At least a year ago, I remember talking with Lisa Hesse about Girls on the Run at a Goddess party. Lisa was pretty excited about the program. She talked about the importance of the age group the program targets. A valuable result of the program works to develop the girl’s self-esteem. I thought of myself at that age, and have no doubt the program would have changed my self-esteem issues.

Onto the run: The boys and men ran first – a one-mile run. The girls and women supported the boys with claps and cheers. They finished their race, and the girls and women were off for a 3 mile run/walk.

Here is the part that was a real kick. I became one of their buddies and there was no hesitance on the girl’s part, I was part of the day’s experience. I was treated as a buddy privy to funny family stories, and was accepted without reservations. Their mothers were thankful for my involvement with their daughters. The hill we climbed in Burns Park is still etched in my mind. It became our focal point, to get over it together.

I walked away with the feeling, of why it is important it was not competitive. The event was a celebration of their completion of their program. How exciting, to complete the goal successfully. The celebration was for the girls as well as their program.

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At The Races

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