News

Our annual party last year, was held at the home of Forrest and Ruth Weddle in Olathe. 21 members enjoyed great food and viewed some excellent video and still photography that are part of Forrest's many talents. We observed a moment of silence in honor of our late friend Al Armstrong. Awards were given to those who accumulated the most points in the past 6 months. The top two were Floyd Delon and Martie Lykens. Election results: President: Alan Poisner; Vice-President: Amy Christensen; Secretary: Sarah Justice; Treasurer, Tom Oakes

In January, Trudy Nepstad (who is here today) gave an excellent presentation of her trip to the Antarctic, along with pictures and maps. We had 27 paid-up members and about 2,000 hits on our homepage. 8 of our members took part in the New Year's Day walk-and then had breakfast afterwards. This is an annual club tradition and I invite you to join us this year.

In February, An exercise therapist spoke at our monthly meeting about the Egosque Method. Ask Jean B about it.

In March, we showed a video that Forrest took of us for feedback about technique. This was helpful and we will be doing it again. Our membership was now up to 38 and included a K-State senior, Marja Poulson. Marja has moved to Miami after graduation.

April began with the Brew to Brew 43-mile relay from Kansas City to Lawrence. HRW had two teams if 5 walkers who started at the Boulevard Brewery in KC and ended in Lawrence a few blocks from the Freestate Brewery: Walkers without Wheels (WWW) and Still to be Determined (StbD). The good (weather) news was that it was on April 1st instead of the middle of March as in past years when it was frequently really cold. The not so good news is that we walked into wind gusts that sometimes blew up to 30 miles an hour. Nevertheless, our stalwart group of walkers managed to get to the starting line before the 6:00 am beginning and reached Lawrence about 9.5 hours later, within one minute of Alan's pre-race prediction.

We had 3 veterans this year (Alan Poisner, Phil Jacobs and BJ Thornburg) and 7 rookies (Forrest & Ruth Weddle, Nancy Perih, Marja-Lisa Paulson, Kathy Dockter, Elaine Wheeler and Steve Batthauer). Nancy Perih gets credit for the most mileage for the day since she drove in from Topeka for the start and returned to KC after the race to pick up her car for the return trip. Each walker did two relay legs totaling 8-10 miles and both of our teams beat a number of running teams. Pictures of this event can be found on our home page. WWW (Red Team): Forrest & Ruth Weddle (Captains and drivers), Nancy Perih, BJ Thornburg, Steve Batthaur.

At the Trolley Run: Fred Adams, Floyd Delon, BJ Thornburg joined many thousands for the 4-mile race (no racewalking division).

May was a very busy month for our club. At our monthly meeting, Alan showed a video of a talk about Drugs used by Athletes. This was before Marian Jones had her medals taken away and Bary Bonds was indicted. Our membership had now risen to 42 and we had 2300 hits on our homepage. We had a birthday party for Tom Young who turned 90-years young. He is still an amazing

At the Steps to the Cure 5K (benefiting the Parkinson Association)., Floyd Delon, Jean Brunnenkant, Martie Lykens and Wayne Kerns carried out colors and got medals. New members included Frank & Peggy Chenoweth who live south of Wichita but wanted to joint THE Kansas Racewalking club. They have walked with us at numerous state and national senior Olympics.

The middle of May was a sad time when we lost Betty Delon, Floyd's wife and a week later we learned that Fred Adams' wife, Sherri, passed away. A number of club members attended services. We sent our condolences to both. Marja Paulson graduated from K-State. Emma Carter, our past junior superstar, graduated law school at KU and has taken a job with a law firm in Wichita (immigration law). Kiara Bunton won a race in St. Louis. Alan served as a judge in an AAU track meet in Kansas City Kansas.

A major event was when our club served as hosts for the KC Track Club's Wednesday Night Run at Leawood City park The KC Track Club members have give us kudos and thanks for our hosting. This was good PR for our club and we should consider doing this annually-as do the KC Track Club members and the KC Express. HRW participants included: Kathy Dockter, Elaine Wheeler, Forrest and Ruth Weddle, Wayne Kerns, Eileen McManus, Alan Poisner, Peggy Armstrong, Tom Oakes, Carole Price (and husband Steve).

June was also a very significant month for Heartland Racewalkers. We started off the month with a birthday party for Martie Lykens, one of the founding members of our club. Our membership has increased to 48 with the addition of Betsy Edwards and John Howard. A lot more material was put up on our homepage, including pictures and results. There have been 2500 hits so far and have included a link to 'Map my Walk.com' where members can plot out their walks and see those of others. Let me know when you have tried this.

Sadly we lost our long-time friend, Don Swegel, who finally succumbed to his bone cancer. A number of members attended his funeral and have made contributions to our Development Fund in honor of Don.

Alan and Fred did some coaching with the AAU club at the Johnson County Community College and made contact with a number of kids and adults, including the Dandi's and Lynn Gentleman. Some of the kids have now competed in regional and national races.

HRW on the radio. On June 9, Alan was on the Weekend Warrior Show on 97.3 FM. This is a weekly talk-show on sports and we had almost 25 minutes of air-time. Reports from the field indicate that it was good PR. Alan spoke with the moderator about future reports from our club and he suggested that we get Jean B and Tom Y on the show.

Fred Adams, Floyd Delon and Tom Young raced at the Missouri Senior Games in Columbia in the 1500 Meters & 5K. We had our three musketeers: doing the races on a Friday evening and Saturday morning. That was two Missourians and one Kansan-and they didn't fight with each other. Congratulations to them for continuing to show off HRW to the east-and bring home some medals. The results have been posted to our website.

On June 17, We had 8 walkers and one volunteer at the Beat the Heat: 5K. We had good PR as usual from BJ Taylor and good pics taken by Dick Ross. Walkers were: Eileen McManus, BJ Thornburg, Nancy Perih (in from Topeka), Leah Luckeroth. Ruth Weddle, Wayne Kerns, Forrest Weddle and Floyd Delon. Thanks to them for carrying the colors. We should try to get more participants next year since they continue to give medals and provide positive PR.

At the end of June (the 30th) HRW had 9 people at the National Senior Olympics-Louisville. Over 12,000 athletes from all over the country attended having won medals in their respective states. Two days later, they had the 5K race. Our speedy bunch included Eileen McManus (just a baby at 50), Jean Brunnenkant, Tom Young, Fred Adams, Floyd Delon, Nancy Perih (Topeka), Julie Haller, Martie Lykens, and Alan Poisner. Frank & Peggy Chenoweth, came in from the Wichita area (Clearwater). In the 1500 meters, HRW took 2 Gold medals, 2 Silvers, 1 bronze and several ribbons. Jean Brunnenkant won a Gold in her fourth different age division-this time in the 90-95. Alan won a Gold for the first time, surpassing the Silvers that he won in Virginia in 2004. Tom Y and Martie took Silvers and Eileen took a Bronze-a great start. Then on July 2nd, we raced the 5K at a local park (rather hilly). This time we took a Gold (Jean) 2 Silvers (Tom and Alan) and a Bronze (Eileen). We also had ribbon winners:

The rest of July wasn't as exciting but it was busy. At out monthly meeting we had a birthday party for Fred Adams and gave a report about our experience in Louisville. We now have 52 members, including Lynn Kirk from Columbia and Raj, Santosh, Lakshmi and Vijaya Dandi. The Dandi's and Kiara Bunton will be going to the nationals in Knoxville having qualified by taking top positions in the regionals in Joplin last month-Congratulations.

July 21: Sunflower Games-Topeka: Representing HRW were Nancy Perih, Alan Poisner, and Raj Dandi. All won Gold medals. It helps to be the only one in your age division. There was an extremely low turnout-only 6 total walkers in the 1500 meter race. We should get more of our members participating. This does qualify for participation in the National State Games of America which are held every two years.

July 22: Race 4 Hope 5K (Corporate Woods). We had 6 members who carried the club colors: Eileen McManus, Kiara Bunton, Jean Brunnenkant, Fred Adams, Floyd Delon and Tom Young. This race benefited the National Brain Tumor Foundation and was run by BJ the DJ.,

On July 28 HRW was again on Weekend Warrior Radio Show on 97.3 FM). This time the host interviewed Jean Brunnenkant, Tom Young and Alan about our participation in the National Senior Olympics. This was more good PR for HRW. We have some low-fidelity tapes of these radio shows and may play them if we have time.

At the end of July, Kiara Bunton and Santosh Dandi raced in the national AAU championships. Kiara took 9th place in the country in her 3K race. She is getting faster every year.

August was another busy month. We used our August meeting to practice pacing at Roe Park and had a picnic afterwards. Awards were also given for those who had accumulated the most points in the first six months of the year: Kathy Dockter, Elaine Wheeler and Martie Lykens. We now have had 2800 hits on our homepage.

>We have had a number of contributions to our Development Fund made in honor of Don Swegel and also in memory of Al Armstrong, Ed Levy, Lou McNaughton. Members can honor of any of our past members and spouses by donating directly to Heartland Racewalker. These will be acknowledged in our newsletter and to the families.

On Aug. 5: Alan took Gold medals in the 3000 and 1500 meter racewalks at State Games of America (Air Force Academy-Colorado Springs). I almost registered for figure skating. This was another huge event with 12,000 athletes competing, but this time at 6,500 feet.

On Aug. 19: We had a good group at the Stroke-Stroll (4 miles): Eileen McManus, Nancy Perih, Lynn Gentleman, Wayne Kerns, Martie Lykens, Floyd Delon.

On Aug 23, Lori Bainter had another girl, Kenda Jo. Our newest racewalker-to-be came in at 8 lbs 5 oz. In the last few weeks, Kenda has visited us accompanied by her sister Alana and Lori.

September: At our monthly meeting, Nancy Perih talked about nutrition for athletes and we also celebrated Jean's birthday. Our membership is now up to 60 and the hits on our homepage were 3005.

Newspaper coverage: An article in the KC Star about Jean and Tom finally appeared and it received wide attention with Iots of positive feedback.

Sept. 9: Head for the Cure (5K-Corp. Woods-. Alan took first place but there was no racewalking divison. If we can get enough participation next year, they will offer a racewalking division.

The big event in September was the Patriots Run-a 9 hour 11 min relay. This was a huge success with 22 members of our club participating. We had two teams of 11 and were able to have walkers from each team on the course for the entire 9 hrs and 11 min. The Perpetual Pedestrians accumulated slightly more mileage than the Avengers. Trophies were awarded to both teams. In addition, they gave out medals for the top three male and female walkers (in terms of miles walked). We got lots of positive PR from the running community at the event. We will have to decide if we want to participate next year.

Sept. 15: Air Force Marathon: Nancy Perih did her third marathon in 6 hrs 29 min. She keeps getting faster and will really show her improvement after attending the week-long racewalking camp in Florida with Dave McGovern.

Sept. 16: KC Senior Games (Olathe): 5K. HRW was represented by Fred, Steve Batthauer, Floyd, Wayne, BJ Thornburg and Jean B. All won Gold medals (each in a different division). Alan has worked on the organizing committee and is working to persuade the Jo Co Parks to find a flatter course next year. We need to improve our turnout of walkers and volunteers.

Sept. 23: Quad Cities Marathon: BJ Thornburg did this one ~6 hrs 27 min

Sept. 23: KS Senior Olympics (Topeka): 1500 meters and 5K. Only 4 HRW members entered this year. Fred, Floyd, Alan and Julie carried the colors (red and then white) and took home Gold and Silver medals. Next year is a qualifying year and we should have a much bigger participation.

October: We had our annual Be -a- Walker predicted-time 5K and it was a very successful event. There were 22 walkers and 5 volunteers : Fred,Amy, Sarah., Pamela, Julie Haller( injured Foot and Alan. Also Forrest Weddle took a lot of great pictures. Peg Armstrong helped ahead of time with refreshments and table cloths. Thanks to all who participated. The overall winner this year was Lyn Yarbough (Zero seconds off the predicted time!) Also the weather cooperated this year- kudos to the weather Gods

October 15-16: Fred, Floyd and Alan participated in the Huntsman World Games and came back with 3 Gold and 2 Silver Medals. We made a great "red'' display in Utah and made some good connections. Fred got a Gold (3K) and two Silvers; and Alan got two Golds (1500 meters and 5K). There were over 12,000 athletes at these games. The racewalkers sang Happy Birthday to Alan on the 15th after he won the 1500 meters in his age division. This is a great venue (ask any of us) and you should consider taking in this friendly event in the future (with side trips to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and even Las Vegas).

Newspaper Coverage-: The Kansas City Star placed a short description of Alan's and Fred's medals at the Huntsman Games. Alan has been in communication with Mike Fitzgerald, the assistant Sports Editor. Our progress in PR is incremental and we will just have to persevere. Alan has had several people comment to him that that they have seen the item. So it does get seen.

Oct. 28: Blue Springs Relay: We had 4 teams entered in the half-marathon relay with 3-4 on a team. The race was scored with handicaps based on age and gender. The fastest team (Eileen McManus captain) was the last after handicap adjustment. The last-place team (Nancy Perih captain) came in first after the handicap. This was almost a biblical result. The usual awards (bottles of champagne) have not been received yet but Lou Joline has promised to supply them soon. A calendar 'accident' by Phil Jacobs permitted Alan to finish the half-marathon as a solo racer and take first place in the male racers. He also used the well-known strategy of being the only one in his division.

November; At our last meeting, Gilbert Castillo from the Mo Valley USATF spoke to us about the upcoming races in Lawrence: The Mo Valley regional and the national cross-country races on Dec. 8.

Mo. Valley USATF Cross-Country race-Nov. 17 at Rim Rock course in Lawrence. We had a number of volunteers on a beautiful day in Lawrence and on a great cross-country course. Ruth & Forrest Weddle, Pamela Felton, Floyd Delon, Jean Brunnenkant and Alan helped out and earned some good PR for the club. We need more volunteers for the race next Saturday when almost 3,000 kids from all over the country will be competing. Please contact me about signing up. We only have about three so far. Volunteers will receive shirts and other goodies and will have to spend most of the morning and early afternoon at the Rim Rock course north of Lawrence. We will be carpooling again.

Nov. 4: Cliffhanger 5K was held in Moe Lago's neighborhood-a beautiful area on northeast Kansas City. The fastest finisher was Eileen followed by Fred, Moe, and Floyd. Moe, Floyd took first in the running division. Volunteers were: Alan-Tom-Phil . We all enjoyed a pancake breakfast afterwards.<.

Nov. 17: Six members served as volunteers for the Missouri Valley Youth Cross-Country championships in Lawrence on a beautiful day and a great course, lined with statues of KU running heroes, including Jim Ryan, Billy Mills and Glen Cunningham.

Nov. 18: Gobbler Grind Half-Marathon ' Corp Woods; Alan did this for the 5th year and recruited a walker from Wichita to enter (and join our club): Roger Hainey. Alan took first in the walking division and second in the running division with a time of 2:43. That was in part due to some long training walks that taken with Eileen McManus.

Nov. 27: Run to Feed the Hungry 5K: Alan was in Sacramento and entered the 5K. There were 22,000 people in the various divisions and untimed walks. He took first place in the 70-74 division with little competition.

Dec, 1. We had our annual party at the Fitness Plus facility. Awards were given to the newcomers of the year (the Dandi family), to Kiara Bunton, as the outstanding youth member, and to Kathy Dockter and Elaine Wheeler and the top point winners-for the second six-month period in a row.

Elections were held with the following results:

• President Alan Poisner
• Vice-President Forrest Weddle
• Secretary Sarah Justice
• Treasurer Tom Oakes

Alan accepted the nomination (for the 13th time) with the platform of continuing to double his salary every year. He thanked the other officers and board members for their service to the club in the past year.

DECEMBER 8: NATIONAL USATF JUNIOR OLYMPICS CROSS COUNTRY in Lawrence

We will have a number of volunteers for this large (3,000) event at the Rim Rock course.

Jan. 1: 10:00 Annual New Year's Day walk AND BREAKFAST

2008: Possible clinic by Jonathan Matthews in the spring.

Qualifying year for Senior Olympics

Another great year for HRW ahead.