Posted by: Brian S-ski
The RunAround Archives Restoration Project now has 11 old school issues of the RunAround online from January 1979 to July 1981. We will continue posting the LRRC newsletters all the way up to the present, and from time to time will highlight classic articles in this blog. Our first such article is from the July 1981 issue by Lou Peyton recalling running in Little Rock from 1971-1981, part of which pre-dates the formation of the LRRC.
REMINISCING RUNNING 1971-1981
By Lou Peyton
I remember when…
- Buz McNair & Terry Matthews were the first Arkansans to run in the Boston Marathon. There were no qualifying times then.
- Gary Smith, Max Hooper, Otis Edge, & Terry Matthews organized the first race in Little Rock. The 4-Mile Holiday race through Pleasant Valley.
- There were 20K races at Camp Robinson.
- The Arkansas Marathon was held on Petit Jean Mountain.
- Pat Wyatt jogged in the neighborhood to get in shape for her snow skiing trips to Colorado.
- There were eleven members of the LRRC. The first fun run was planned and run from Beth and Lloyd Walkers’ house. The route included Napa Valley.
- Dewey Glasscock ran his mileage on the indoor track at the YMCA.
- Charley Peyton ran his 1½ miles daily – in combat boots.
- Bob Plunkett made his first pair of orthotics.
- Dick Lewis tried long distance running but returned to his beloved track that was his home.
- Steve Tilley ran a 3:03 for his first marathon.
- Al Maguire rode his motorcycle to watch the First Baptist 10K race.
- Deb Strehle ran her first marathon in 3:45.
- Larry Mabry ran 2 miles a day at the track and laughed at long distance running.
- Ann Smith’s daily mileage was one mile run all out on the track at Scott Field and a 5 mile run on weekends.
- JoEtta Galbraith wore a size 12 dress. She easily slips into a size 8 now.
- Pat Wyatt was the first woman from Arkansas to run in the Boston Marathon.
- There were no women in the 40+ age division in our local races.
- Gary Smith and Buz McNair ran 30 miles on the track at Scott Field one Friday evening just for fun.
- Bob Galbraith flew to California to run his first marathon.
- Beth Walker finished six mile fun runs – walking.
- Kathy Plunkett was 60+ lbs heavier than she is now. She thought the other members of the LRRC were whippets and greyhounds.
- Ritchie Heber was the fastest young runner in Little Rock.
- There was a marathon chart at Sportsstop (Finish Line Sports) where the long distance runners posted their marathon times. Dick Dickins had the longest list of accomplishments.
- Max Hooper ran 53 ½ miles in the London to Brighton Race.
- Dick Strickland and Bob Boyd ran a ten minute pace on Saturday fun runs. Have you clocked them lately?
- There was a 1000 mile club at Sportstop (Finish Line Sports) where we charted our weekly mileage and earned those 1000 mile club T-shirts. Nita Copeland was the most persistent runner earning hers after working for two years (pregnancy slowed her progress for a few months).
- Lloyd Walker ran the hot International Rice Festival Marathon.
- Jim Johnson ran Overlook Hill seven times in a workout.
- Sy Brewer ran the Dallas Marathon with a steel pin in his leg.
- Paul Johnson was truly a gallompher.
Posted 2 years, 5 months ago at 7:03 am. 1 comment
Posted by: Presto
If you have a shirt, hat, or workout bag and want the LRRC logo on it, you are now in luck!
Contact for Logo Stitching: Patsy Varner
E-mail: Patsy.Varner@dillards.com
Address: 1600 Cantrell Road., Little Rock, AR 72201
Phone: 870-917-9495 (cell) or 870-942-4639 (home)
Delivery and pickup: At Dillards Corporate Offices, Steven Preston can work out pickup if needed.
She has two sizes that she can put on shirts and caps. They are 2.5 X 3.5 inches and 1.5 X 2.5 for $10.00.
She has a 4X4 logo that will be $12.00 on any item - this size would work well for a workout bag.
She has a 6X6 logo that should look good on sweat shirts and large bags.
No discounted rate on multiple items. She said it takes her the same time to do each one.
She can also change the colors on any part of it. You might want to change the color of the lettering depending on the color of the item.
Get the Bird on your shirt!
Get the Bird on your hat!
Posted 2 years, 5 months ago at 11:39 pm. Add a comment
Posted by: littlerockroadrunners
Over the past three months the LRRC Board of Directors has been busy with several projects and central among these was to re-draft an official set of by-laws for the club. As a non-profit organization, the LRRC is required to have a functioning set of by-laws to serve as the rule book for the club. The by-laws were last updated in the mid-90’s and while many of those articles were still appropriate, several were outdated and no longer applicable to today’s club. For this new draft, the Board looked at how the club does things now and also tried to anticipate how things will change in the future. We also looked at what we could improve. A central theme was to balance club history and the experience of long time Roadrunners with the enthusiasm and ideas of new members; to get involvement from all. After four meetings, dozens (hundreds?) of emails, and 5 re-writes, the LRRC Board of Directors is proud to present a 2009 draft of the By-Laws of the Little Rock Roadrunners Club, Inc.
A quick summary of changes from current procedure is outlined below:
- Membership Chair was changed from an appointed position to an elected office to give all club members more input into the make-up of the board and more opportunity to be involved.
- The term length of Treasurer, Secretary, and Membership Chair was set at 2 years in offset terms. This will promote a more regular turnover of board positions to get new people involved while keeping a good mixture of veterans and new members on the board.
- Nominations for any office will be taken prior to the June elections and an electronic means of voting will be available for members unable to personally attend the June meeting.
Feedback and questions are welcome and can be made via the comments option of this blog post. You can also email the Board of Directors at board@littlerockroadrunners.com. A club-wide vote on the by-laws will be made at an upcoming club meeting. We have worked hard to create the best by-laws to serve our club, but also built into the draft is a means of amending these articles as needed in the future. Once passed, the by-laws will be posted on the LRRC website and reviewed annually.
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 3:59 pm. 1 comment
Posted by: Brian S-ski
We met in the pre-5 AM darkness with reason to be optimistic. The weather forecast called for 68 degrees at race time, almost 20 degrees cooler than in past years. The race course had been rerouted due to road construction and was rumored to be a little less hilly. Ready for the challenge we crammed into the Dan Van and the Great White Shark and hit Highway 167 for Batesville and the White River 4 Mile Classic.
The White River Roadrunners once again put on a great race. Technical race shirts, chip timing, and prize money were added this year while the entry fee actually went down! With the break in the weather and the nice new course, it was a great day for a race.
Leah Thorvilson finished as top female by a landslide and beat all the LRRC men at the race in the process. The women’s team finished second at the race behind the River Valley Runners but maintain a solid lead on the 2009 Grand Prix leaderboard. Thorvilson, Mary Wells, Tina Coutu, Becky Humes, Ginea Qualls, and Alea Humes made up the LRRC women’s team at the race.
The men’s team also strengthened their lead in the season’s standings despite placing second to the Conway Running Club. The Grand Prix season can be a bit like the Tour de France: sometimes you let a little guy get the stage win while resting back in the peloton with your main rivals. The LRRC men were nice enough to let the CRC guys get a first place finish while still increasing our lead over our closest rival Club Arkadelphia on the season’s leaderboard. I explained this cute analogy to some Conway guys after the race and a bit of good natured trash talking ensued. Bottom line, I’ve guaranteed to some other clubs that the LRRC men will win the next four races. Now you all have to come out, run hard and back up my mouth! Kevin Golden, Bill Diamond, Brian Sieczkowski, David Williams, Joel Perez, Raj Bhanot, Greg Helmbeck, Bill Torrey, Kevin Groustra, Jeff Maher, Dan Belanger, Roy Smith, Ron Sanders Jr, and Carl Northcutt made up the men’s team at the 4 Mile Classic.
Next up on the Grand Prix circuit is the Watermelon 5K in Hope on August 8th. LRRC members Glen Mays and Leah Thorvilson are the defending champions. Car pool plans are being made on the LRRC forum so get ready to come on out and help LRRC get first place at the Melon!
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 1:38 pm. Add a comment
Posted by: Brian S-ski
There is good news and bad news to report for the 2009 Dam Night Run 5K for the LRRC Racing Teams. First the good news:
Justin Radke was the overall race winner in a time of 16:05! We had a strong showing from the men’s team and came up just one point shy of winning the male team competition at the race. Considering all the LRRC men out of town or injured this weekend, a one point loss to Club Arkadelphia on their home course is a result to be proud of. The men’s team consisted of Radke, Imari Dellimore, Bill Diamond, Joel Perez, David Williams, Raj Bhanot, Jeff Maher, Greg Helmbeck, Bill Torrey, Roy Smith, Dan Belanger and Carl Northcutt.
Justin Radke celebrates with some watermelon after taking first place at the Dam Night Run
The bad news is that the LRRC women just missed having enough finishers to score points in the female team competition. In order to earn Grand Prix points, a club must have 3 female finishers and we had just 2 at the Dam Night Run. A big salute to Becky and Alea Humes for representing the LRRC at the race. There is good news on the female side as well: clubs are allowed to drop their four lowest scores on the season, so our zero at this race will be wiped out. I should also add that the Roadrunner ladies are still #1 on the season leaderboard.
After the race LRRC partied in style with food, drinks, lawn games, and video footage of the 1993 Dam Night Run in which Radke held the early lead over NCAA 5K Champ Brian Baker before running out of gas after a 4:27 first mile. If you’ve never been to the Dam Night Run, I strongly encourage you to attend the 2010 running for the party alone.
The LRRC crew parties after the race with rare video footage of a 17 year old Justin Radke at the 1993 DNR 5K
There are more pictures from the race, the after party and a few leftover from the Twilight 5K earlier this month up in the LRRC photo gallery now.
Next up: The White River 4 Mile Classic in Batesville is this Saturday, August 1st. This is a Championship Race and crucial in the Grand Prix competition. We need every able-bodied Roadrunner to invade Batesville and come home with a sweep of the team titles! Check out the LRRC forum if you are interested in car pooling to the race.
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 7:51 pm. 1 comment
Posted by: Brian S-ski
Thanks to our new logo, we all know that the Little Rock Roadrunners Club was founded in 1977. For many club members, myself included, that information represents our entire knowledge of LRRC history. I think many club members, myself included, really are interested in learning more of the Club’s history, there just isn’t any way to read up on it. Until now…
One of the projects that the LRRC Board of Directors has taken on this year is to find and restore as much LRRC history as possible. As a start, June Barron contacted long-time club members Lou and Charlie Peyton. Lucky for us, the Peytons have issues of our Club newsletter going back over 30 years. I will be scanning these copies and posting them to the Club website on the RunAround archives page.
The oldest RunAround that the Peytons had was from January 1979 (I was 6 months old at the time); it features 3 articles and full results from the 2nd annual Road Hog Road Race 10K. You can check it out for yourself, here:
http://arkrrca.com/html/LRRR/newsletter/1979/january.pdf
The RunAround was half-sheet size back then with small type, but since it is a PDF file you can enlarge and rotate the image for your viewing needs. January 1979 is the current starting point, and additional RunAround back issues will be posted on our Archives page in the coming weeks and months.
Other plans include interviews with founding Club members and posting of old Capital City Classic 10K results back when it was called the Pepsi 10K.
If you have any historical club information in old papers or just rolling around in your head, please let us know. You can email the club address or post a comment to this blog. Help us make “Running Little Rock Since 1977″ more than just a slogan!
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 9:13 am. 1 comment
Posted by: Presto
A few of the Little Rock Roadrunners invaded the Pacific Northwest this past weekend, including our very own Leah Thorvilson (hoping for revenge from her 2 second loss at Green Bay). The weather was perfect. It started with an early morning chill and a search for a vacant potty! By mid-day, the temps only reached into the low 70s with little to no humidity.
The course was a very hilly according to most others in Seattle, but what are hills to Little Rockians? There were awesome views to be seen all along the course including: Lake Washington (there was a bald eagle sighting), Mount Rainier in the background, running on the world’s longest floating bridge (I-90), the Space Needle, and Pudget Sound via the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The only kicker was at about mile 23 and a half you went downhill and you knew that at mile 25 you were going to have to come right back up it.
In the marathon, Leah Thorvilson had a great tug of war with Michele Suszek of Westminster, CO. According to the Seattle Times, there were 3 lead changes in the final 6 miles. I remember passing Leah as I was going towards North Seattle and she was making her way back south and you could see the war eyes on her as she was neck and neck with her opponent. Leah finished as the 2nd overall female with an awesome time of 2 hours 38 mins and 49 seconds, only 12 seconds behind Suszek. Great race Leah! Being able to hold a great duel like that late in the race is a big accomplishment in itself… Among others to run the marathon was Michael Harmon. The marathon happened to fall on his birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARMON!!! He gave himself a nice present with a whopping 35 min PR with a time of 4 hours 41 mins and 48 secs. Way to go! Raj Bhanot completed the course in 3 hours 43 mins and 27 secs. I wish I could have his excitement so late in a marathon. He was cheering fellow Roadruners on late into the race while finishing in a fast time himself. Myself, I ran 3 hours 17 mins and 14 secs. Loved the course, but my body hated the Cytomax (is it just me or does that stuff taste like sweet tea). I ended up almost puking on the guy that handed me my medal.
LEAH THORVILSON AT FINISH
STEVEN PRESTON AT FINISH
In the half marathon, John Russell came sneaking by his wife, Polly, at the finish line in 2 hours 19 mins and 40 secs. Leah’s sister, Jamie, also had a great half time of 1 hour 37 mins and 38 secs. I ran with her for a bit in the first half and I can tell that the great personality runs in Leah’s family.
As this was a Rock ‘N’ Roll event, they had a R&B singer (can’t explain) for the headliner concert that night, Keb Mo. However, with a few bottles of Washington’s finest merlots, the crew had a fantastic time swaying to the rhythms. Before the concert started, Leah received her first Billboard Top 100 gold record (see below).
LEAH MAKES HER DEBUT ON THE BILLBOARD TOP 100
GROUP SHOT AT HEADLINER CONCERT THAT NIGHT
Seattle Rocked!
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 3:50 pm. Add a comment
Posted by: Brian S-ski
The LRRC Women’s Grand Prix Team took top honors at the Brickfest 5K Saturday in Malvern! The ladies’ team at Brickfest was composed of Mira Lelovic, Tina Coutu, Andrea Sieczkowski, Ginea Qualls, Lauren Ellis (new member!), Rebecca Humes, Alea Humes, and Alesa Davis. The Women strengthened their lead on first place in the 2009 Grand Prix Standings.
Bill Diamond, Kevin Golden, Imari Dellimore, Mira Lelovic, and Jeff Maher
The Men’s Team came in second as the Conway Running Club got their first win of the 2009 Season. The Men’s team at Brickfest was Imari Dellimore, Kevin Golden, Bill Diamond, David Williams, Brian Polansky, Greg Helmbeck, Joel Perez, Kevin Groustra, Bill Torrey, Jeff Maher, Dan Belanger, Roy Smith, Ron Sanders Jr (new member!), and Carl Northcutt. The men increased their lead in the 2009 Standings over 2nd place Club Arkadelphia.
Next Grand Prix race is the Dam Night Run on July 25th at the Lake DeGray spillway. Find out more information on the Dam Night Run webpage.
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 2:16 pm. Add a comment
Posted by: littlerockroadrunners
Welcome to the LRRC Blog, the newest feature of littlerockroadrunners.com! It looks a bit sparse now, but it will soon increase our club’s online content and get more members involved.
Blog Tour:
Starting at the top of the page, we have the wonderful club logo. Just beneath you’ll find a row of sliding-door pictures. Click on any of these pictures to view blog posts within any one of the six categories:
Race Reports - club members sharing their experiences at local or far-away races
Upcoming Events - Get current, up-to-date information on what’s coming up in the Little Rock running world: races, club meetings, etc…
Board Reports - News from the LRRC Board of Directors
Training - Blog posts detailing training techniques and tips, training programs, or members’ experiences preparing for a big race
Racing Team- News about the LRRC Grand Prix Series competition
Miscellaneous - All that doesn’t fit anywhere else
Clicking on the left-most picture at any time will return you to the LRRC Blog’s home page where you will find the most recent blog posts in all categories. At the bottom of each blog post is a link to comments. Click this and you can read any comments that other blog readers have written and be able to leave a comment of your own.
The left sidebar has a series of links for easy blog navigation. There is also a search box and a subscribe to link. By subscribing to this blog you will receive email notification each time a new blog entry is posted.
That’s pretty much it for the tour, so subscribe today to get be notified about new posts, or just check back with us every now and then and see what’s new.
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 11:53 am. Add a comment
