Archive for the 'Road Runners Club of America' Category

By Tim Short

Hello Wicked Nation!

Our very own Wicked Running Register (Michele Campbell – Editor) has won the Outstanding E-Newsletter Award for 2011 from the Road Runners Club of America! This is a huge honor and I’m so happy for Michele but also for our club to be recognized nationally for our efforts in the running community. In 2011 the Wicked Running Club was also instrumental in securing the RRCA Runner Friendly Community designation for Salem.

Congratulations to Michele and to YOU the members of the Wicked Running Club who give Michele tons of awesome content each month for the Wicked Running Register!

To view the complete list category winners please visit: http://www.rrca.org/services/news-entry/national-running-award-recipients. As a RRCA member club, I encourage all members to take a few minutes to check out the RRCA website.

If there are any members that have questions about the Road Runners Club of America, I encourage you to get in touch with me or the Massachusetts RRCA State Rep John Childs who also happens to be a member of Wicked!  John has been a great source of information for Wicked over the past few years and I’d like to thank him for all the support he has given to us.

Don’t forget, the deadline to get in your stuff for February’s WRR is this Friday.

[Update] The foundation for our award winning Wicked Running Register was created back in 2010 by Beth O’Grady. Before Beth launched WRR, we didn’t have anything close to a real club Newsletter. Beth gave lots of her energy and time into developing the WRR during it’s first year. Michele has certainly taken WRR to the next level, but I also want to thank Beth for creating the original Wicked Running Register. The Wicked Running Register is a great example of how awesome our members really are.

On August 30, the Road Runners Club of America released the names of the communities for the 2nd round of their Runner Friendly Community program. We are happy to announce that our home base of Salem, Massachusetts was selected as a RRCA Runner Friendly Community!

Below you will find links to the official press release, letters of of recommendation from community leaders, a summary of what makes Salem a Runner Friendly Community and the video that was created to promote Salem as a Runner Friendly Community. Congrats Salem!

Offical Press Release from William Dyson, Program Director, Road Runners Club of America

Letters of Recommendation

Kimbery Driscoll: Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts

Shari Hewson: Co-President, Wicked Running Club

Alison Phelan: Co-President, Wicked Running Club

Doug Bollen: Director, Salem Park, Recreation & Community Services

Ashely Steves and Brandi/Steve Dion: B&S Fitness Programs

Salem, MA – In Salem, the Wicked Running Club, along with other organizations in the city, have created races for all types of runners and distances, from the annual January 1st Frosty Four Race, to the Cross Country 5k Old Salem Green Race, to the summer WRC Wicked Kidz Race and to the Annual Wild Turkey Race, among others—there’s a race for every type of runner.

Salem offers running services to their youth as well, including: Summer Youth Track Club which attracts more than 50 kids a year, all ages track meet held each summer at the Salem High School track, and the Wicked Kidz half and full mile run at Forest River Park.

The Wicked Half Marathon, which started in 2007 with close to 400 runners, has tripled in size over the past five years.  On Halloween Weekend, Salem is host to the Devils Chase 6.66-miler.  Just in its second year, the 6.66m race has become a world-wide destination race.  They’ve also added two new races for the 2011 calendar including the Black Cat 10/20miler in March and the Extreme 5K Urban run with 15 obstacles throughout the city in June.

Salem’s signature race, the Wild Turkey 5 Mile Run on Thanksgiving Day benefits youth programs at Salem park & Recreation and the Boys & Girls Club.  It’s the largest race on the North Shore, with more than 1,500 participants.  In January 2010, Salem introduced the first ever North Shore snowshoe race at Olde Salem Greens gold course.  At the time, it was the largest snow shoe race in New England and second largest ever in the Northeast.  Learn more about Salem through this video.

Community leaders who provided support and letter of recommendation include Alison Phelan, Co-President, Wicked Running Club; Doug Bollen, Director, Park, Recreation & Community Services; Brandi, Steve, and Ashley of B&S Fitness Programs; Kimberly Driscoll, Mayor of Salem; and Shari Hewson, Co-President of the Wicked Running Club.