BAY AREA TRACK CLUB IS BORN
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
(LetsRun.com Editor's Note: To read the Bay Area Track Club's press release on themselves, please click here.)
February 23, 2010 - A group of elite athletes and coaches based in the San Francisco Bay
Area have recently come together to form the Bay Area Track Club
(BATC), the latest group to be recognized by USA Track & Field as a
USA Distance Center. The says it has two main goals: to provide
support for Olympic athletes and emerging elites, and to promote
running, health, and fitness within the community.
"Our vision is much greater than supporting a small group of elite
runners," explained BATC president Tony Kauke in a statement. "We
really want to support a health and fitness movement, a running
movement, across the Bay Area for people of all ages and abilities."
The BATC's members have represented the United States in international
competition 19 times, and includes national champions and even an
international medallist, Shannon Rowbury. Rowbury, a San Francisco
native who still lives and trains there, was one of the key people
behind setting up the group.
"The idea of a post-collegiate group in the Bay Area is something I and
many other local elite runners have dreamed of for a long time," she
said through a media release. "To be the best athlete I can be I need
a training group. More importantly though, having grown up in the Bay
Area, it is important that I give back. The BATC’s community programs
will provide me with the opportunity to have a great impact on youth
fitness."
The club's current roster includes four Olympians: Rowbury (1500m),
Blake Russell (marathon), Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Marathon) and Bolota
Asmerom (5000m). Other members include aspiring Olympians David
Torrence (1500m/3000m), Garrett Heath (1500m), Alysia Johnson (800m),
Jon Rankin (1500m), Clara Horowitz Peterson (5000m/road), Tom Kloos
(steeplechase), Francis Gadayan (800m), and Peter Gilmore (marathon).
The club also has a foreign member, Briton Tim Bayley (1500m).
Several of the club's members will be competing in the USA Indoor
Championships this weekend in Albuquerque, N.M., led by Rowbury, who
won the national women's 3000m indoor title in 2008, and Torrence, the
defending national men's 3000m champion.
ENDS
(LetsRun.com Editor's Note: To read the Bay Area Track Club's press release on themeslves, please click here.)
|
|
|
Runner's World &
Running Times
Combined Only $22
a Year
Save $87
Running & Track and Field Posters
Great Offer: Nike Lunar Glide Sale Multiple colors of this shoe available.
*Nike Air Max Moto 7 Get 2 Pairs for a Crazy $112