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Marathon weekends for Striders
By JOE SHAFRAN
It was a busy weekend for the Annapolis Striders. They held their election of officers and awards banquet.
Dan Symancyk was re-elected president and Brad Chapman, in what may have been one of the contested offices, continues as vice president of races.
And an announcement on the Strider website mentions that registration is already closed for the B &A Trail half and full marathons coming up on Sunday.
The marathon and half Marathon will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, beginning at Severna Park High School. Runners may pick up packets on Saturday from noon-6 p.m. at Severna Park High School. Race packet pickup will start at 6 a.m. on race day at the high school.
Runners who signed up for the marathon may opt to finish the half marathon instead and will be scored for that event. The first three miles of the course are on residential streets with the remainder of both the marathon and half marathon on the B&A Trail. The mostly flat course is USATF certified.
Awards include shirts for all registered runners; medals for all finishers; awards three deep for age group winners in five year increments; awards to top male and female winners overall, and top masters winners.
Old running shoes will be collected, size 6 and up, for donation to the Perpetual Prosperity Pumps Foundation. Proceeds will fund agricultural training in third world countries.
And a reminder again that the 14th annual Striders’ beginning running class begins April 29 at the Bates Athletic Complex in Annapolis. For information call Evan Thomas, 410-451-4155, or Penny Goldstein, 410-721-6614. One requirement to start this course: You need to be able to walk at a somewhat fast clip for 20 minutes without collapsing.
There are the B&A trail runs Sunday, but remember back to last year when the race was somewhat disrupted by snow. This year there doesn’t seem to be snow in the forecast, but you never know. Who thought that after two months of spring-like weather we would get 10 inches of snow one day last month.
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Those 10 inches and the wind that came with it caused problems for many people but the 6:06 club was out there running the salted streets in downtown Annapolis that Monday morning. However, their leader was conspicuous by his absence. This was Gill Cochran, the man some people call the Cal Ripken of running, because he says he has run every day of his life the past 29 years. Turns out he was absent last month because he went looking for snow and found it at Park City, Utah, and in addition to getting in some skiing, assures this columnist that he also ran every day he was there .
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I predict a major change in charitable fund-raising or the promotion of a cause. Attribute it to wristbands. Lance Armstrong hooked on to it the past couple of years with his yellow Livestrong band for the cure of cancer. Starting out a dollar a piece, those bands have raised millions. I’m told they can’t keep up with the demand. The other day, I bought for $2 the orange Iron Spirit band put out by Cal Ripken Jr. that supports the foundation for his father and ALS research.
Many years ago, charities found that sponsoring a race was a good source of funding. Avon was one of them, but three years ago, someone at Avon took a close look and found that the return on the investment wasn’t worth it and gave it up.
I see the people who put on the MS walk now offer a wrist band, and when you buy a pair of running shoes at a New Balance store, you can get a pink band for the Susan B. Komen breast cancer fund. In their "Kick Butt" quit smoking campaign, the Anne Arundel County Department of Health offers a white band that glows in the dark, and Rabbi Daniel Roberts of Cleveland, Ohio, , gives out two bands, black and white intertwined inscribed with "Stand up- Speak Up!" At the University of Maryland, you get one that’s inscribed "Fear the Turtle".
I predict one day it will be bands instead of T-shirts as the most prominent giveaways at races.
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