News

We started off 2010 on Jan. 1st with our Annual New Year's Day walk with the KC Track Club in Overland Park on the trail in the snow. 8 members made a 30-min trek and afterwards had the first brunch of the year at La Peep. Our monthly meeting the next day featured a tutorial by Alan on using our homepage to get information on racewalking, with the help of Pamela's laptop and projector. This was followed up at our February meeting by showing a Power Point Presentation that Dave McGovern gave to the USATF on the status of racewalking in the US.

At our March meeting, we some more of the Jeff Salvage video on racewalking (always good to get a refresher lesson).There were two races in March indoors at Johnson County Community College (sponsored the Heartland Athletic Services-not a subsidiary). Racing the 1-mile and/or the 3000-meter walks were Fred Adams, Chuck Zarrelli, Mark Landry, Alan Poisner, Nancy Perih (in from Topeka) and Barb Schwartz (her first racewalk). Bo Kremer came to support our efforts and also took some video footage.

In April, Barb Schwartz, a new member, talked to us about what it takes to become a personal trainer. Barb has been very active in the club,including recruiting new members. On the 6th, Alan and BJ made a presentation to the KC Express, the women's running/walking club (part of our community outreach). The big race event in April was the Brew to Brew where we once again field two teams, beat several running teams, finished within a few minutes of Alan's pre-race prediction and ended up, as usual, at the Mad Greek's restaurant. We had unusually friendly weather this year. Maybe we can have three teams in 20111.

The speaker at our May meeting was Chuck Zarrelli who told us about the history of the railroad in the U.S., a fascinating presentation on one of Chuck's many specialties. HRW once again hosted the WNR for the KC Track Club, using the large shelter house at Leawood City Park-good food and fellowship with our friends in the running community. We had another outreach event on May 26 at the 15th Annual In Step and In Shape Walk & Health Expo sponsored by the Johnson Co. Parks & Rec. Martie Lykens and Alan were our representatives once again at the large event at the Ritz Charles.

In June, Floyd Delon made a presentation on genealogy. This was partly inspired by the gene study that some of us began at the National Senior Olympics at Stanford. DNA testing is a new addition to learning about family history. There were lots of races in June and HRW was well represented: the All-Comers 1600-meter race at JuCo, Missouri Senior Games in Columbia, the USATF Missouri Valley Association Outdoor Meet in Liberty, the Iowa Senior Games in Des Moines, the Heartland Athletic Services at JuCo (1000) and the Father's Day race in Overland Park. Several of our members raced the 1500-meters in Columbia of Friday evening and then returned to the area to do the Missouri Valley USATF 3,000-meter walk in Liberty on Saturday afternoon, delayed due to a storm.

On July 10 we had our annual picnic with awards. 21 members enjoyed the food and festivities. Awards were announced for Barb Schwartz, Charlotte Haupt and Denise Donaldson. Youth awards were presented to Lakshmi and Santosh Dandi. Another outreach event was held at the Matt Ross Community Center. Alan, BJ, Tom Y and Jean B represented HRW and also did some demonstrations on the track. A number of people came to our table for information. Races in July included the Sunflower Games in Topeka and the ShowMe Games in Columbia. HRW picked up medals in both of these and thus qualified for the National Sate Games of America that will be held in 2011 in San Diego.

Our speaker in August was Mike Goodman from the KC Area Safety Council. He emphasized pedestrian safety. This Metro agency also sponsors several of the races that we enter, including the Gobbler Grind. The big event in August was the full weekend World Class Racewalking Clinic offered by Dave and Loretta McGovern. We had 22 people attending, including walkers Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, St. Louis, and out-state Kansas. Dave had previously presented a clinic here in 2000. Dave & Loretta provided instruction, video picture taking, drills and stretches over the 2.5 day period. BJ and Jerry Thornburg generously served as hosts for the Friday evening get-together. The outdoor part was held at Shawnee Mission South High School and the indoor events were at Fitness Plus. His clinics are popular all over the country and we enjoyed this special experience.

Our September monthly meeting focused on a Jeff Salvage DVD concentrating on technique. This was a good lead-in to our big Patriots Day Relay on 9/11. Once again we had two large teams who kept the course busy for the full 9 hrs and 11 min. The Patriotic Pedestrians (BJ Thornburg-Captain) beat out the Perpetual Pedestrians (Alan Poisner-Captain) by 1 mile (40 vs. 39). BJ and Alan had been at the Great Mall of the Americas in Olathe since before Noon and finished their last laps in the dark. HRW continues to get good PR from this event and were also awarded a special plaque. The last week of September found us competing in the Kansas Senior Games. The following members won medals and qualified for the nationals to be held in Houston next June: Couts, Poisner, Haller, Zarrelli, Sells (renewing member), Adams, Delon (Floyd and Martie), Brunnenkant, Young. We hope to collect a lot of medals and ribbons to equal what we achieved at Stanford in 2009.

October start off with our annual Be-A-Walker Predicted-Time Race. This year it was a 2-mile race around the path at Roe Park, near our fitness center. We had a great turnout (19+4 volunteers) and good weather. Winners were Santosh Dandi, Charlotte Haupt, Vijaya Dandi, Chuck Zarrelli. Santosh finished just 2 seconds off his pre-race prediction and also was the faster walker of the day (a first for this event). In Utah, Fred Adams walked away with three Gold Medals in the Huntsman Games (1500-meters, 3000-meters and 5K)-a busy week in a beautiful part of the country. HRW has done well in this walker-friendly event in the past and we encourage all to give it a try. The last day of October (Halloween) featured the Blue Springs 50/50 Racewalking Marathon Relay. We had three teams this year with 13 members walking in the period from 7:00 am to about 12:30. The first team to cross the finish line was the Walk-y, Talk-y Racewalkers (Eileen McManus, Captain), followed by the Perpetual Pedestrians. This is a fun event and gives walkers a chance to try some distances longer than a 5K. Thanks to Lou Joline for organizing this unique series of races.

Our speaker in November told us about efforts to promote children's health and nutrition and emphasized the need to stop the current obesity epidemic showing up in kids as well as adults. We came into November with 58 members (our high point for the year). Matt and Martha McCarter finished the Athens Marathon on its 2500th anniversary (plus or minus a few years). We will get a full report at a future meeting. The racewalker-friendly Cliff Hanger race was held in the historic northeast district of Kansas City and followed by the traditional pancake breakfast. HRW won medals in both walking and running divisions. We appreciate the volunteering by Pamela Felton and Chuck Zarrelli at this event. Later in the month, HRW was represented in both the 5K and the half-marathon at the Gobbler Grind with racewalking divisions in both. We thank Rusty Collins for continuing to offer these events for us.

Finally, I want to thank the 2010 club Board for their efforts behind the scene that other members do not see: Pamela Felton, Peg Armstrong, Leah Luckeroth, Phil Jacobs, and Chuck Zarrelli. I also want to thank the officers who have spent many years serving the club:

• Secretary; Sarah Justice finishing her 7th year
• Treasurer: Tom Oakes finishing his 4th year
• Vice President: Floyd Delon (first year as officer; many years as board member)
• Clinic Director Fred Adams: finishing his 8th year
• Historian and Assistant Clinic Director: Jean Brunnenkant 12th year as historian.

Last year, in my Annual Report, I mentioned some Prospects for 2010 for our club. If you look back at them (listed on our homepage) you will see that we did achieve our major goals and, as I said then, 'With the dedicated members that we have now, there are good reasons to be optimistic. I hope that we can continue to observe our main club rules: Don't get hurt AND Have fun.' This applies to 2011 as well.

Finally, beginning my 16th year as President (no term limits) and a member of the club since its founding in 1989, I admit that it has been a labor of love to see so many in our community take up this life-long fitness activity that keeps them fit physically and mentally.