Archive for the 'Wicked In The News' Category

Wicked Picks Up National Award

Published on April 13, 2011 in Wicked In The News. 0 Comments

Founded in 1958, the Road Runners Club of America is the oldest and largest national association of running clubs, running events, and runners dedicated to promoting running as a competitive sport and as healthy exercise.

The Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) announced their national running awards yesterday and the Wicked Running Club picked up a very big award. Wicked’s website was selected as an Outstanding Club Website – Large Club for 2010! Congrats to the website team for Wicked and all those who contribute to it’s development! For a full list of all award winners that were announced by the RRCA, check out http://www.rrca.org/services/news-entry/rrca-announces-national-running-award-winners/.

Salem’s long list of races puts city on map for region’s runners

Published on March 17, 2011 in Wicked In The News. 0 Comments

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Globe Correspondent / March 17, 2011

Click on the link to view original article: www.boston.com

SALEM — Darla Johnson of Beverly has had cervical cancer in recent years, but that didn’t slow her down. She’s had a race to run — in fact, six of them.

Johnson, 48, ranks among some 400 motivated runners who’ve picked up their pace to train year-round for the four-year-old Salem Race Series. The six individual races have attracted more entrants every year — about 4,800 in 2010 — though only about 150 earn the status-symbol jacket that says they completed all six in one year.

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Toomey runs for autism organization

Published on March 17, 2011 in Wicked In The News. 0 Comments

By Gianna Addario

Correspondent

March 17, 2001

Click on the link to view original article: www.salemnews.com

Marblehead High girls track coach Mike Toomey has many colorful accolades to his name.

He is a four-time Northeastern Conference Coach of the Year, Salem News Coach of the Year in 2010, and is a member of the UMass Lowell Hall of Fame.

In addition to coaching, Toomey owns Toomey Sports Running Center, a private coaching business, which helps individuals reach their running and fitness goals. He also designed a running program that provides guidance and inspiration to pre-collegiate and collegiate athletes.

With a full schedule on his hands, Toomey has found time to give back to his running community. On April 18 Toomey will be running in the Boston Marathon to raise money for a local autism non-profit organization called For Jake’s Sake, Inc.

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Record turnout for Salem’s Frosty Four – By Jay Kumar

Published on January 3, 2011 in Wicked Frosty Four and Wicked In The News. 0 Comments

Record turnout for Salem’s Frosty Four

Salem News

By Jay Kumar Correspondent

Unseasonably warm temperatures on New Year’s Day led to a tremendous showing for the fourth annual Wicked Frosty Four road race in Salem.

Race organizers had been expecting close to 500 runners, but the event ended up drawing 742 registrants, said co-race director Shari Hewson of Salem’s Wicked Running Club. In addition to receiving many registrations in the week leading up to the race, there were about 140 runners who signed up on Saturday morning.

“I thought it went phenomenally well,” Hewson said, citing the help provided by a crew of 45 volunteers.

One big change for 2011 involved moving the post-race celebration from the Old Town Meeting Hall to the Tavern in the Square. “Everyone’s in a good mood,” she said.

The sun was shining and temperatures reached into the low 50s, a stark contrast to the chilly conditions runners braved in the previous three Frosty Four races. Temperatures for last year’s race were in the 20s, but in 2009, runners braved subzero temperatures and strong winds. Not so on Saturday as veteran racers and New Year’s resolution-makers alike made their way from downtown Salem through the Willows and back.

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Annual New Year’s Day race draws hard-core runners by the hundreds

Published on December 27, 2010 in Wicked In The News. 0 Comments

Great article that appeared in the Salem News about the Wicked Running Club, the Wicked Frosty Four and the Salem Race Series!

By Chris Cassidy

STAFF WRITER

SALEM — With the windchill factor, Doug Bollen estimates the temperature at the starting line last New Year’s morning was around 15 degrees — below zero.

“It was brutally cold with the wind whipping around Dead Horse Beach,” recalled the city’s parks and recreation director.

Yet, more than 300 runners from all over the North Shore marked the 10th hour of 2009 by testing the boundaries of their sanity and competing in the Frosty Four, a frigid four-mile road race through Salem.

Not even bone-chilling temperatures or sacred holidays can disrupt Salem’s running rituals.

This is a city with a year-round road-race calendar and a running club of nearly 300 members who are such hard-core devotees to the sport that many of them met up Christmas morning at 8 a.m. just to fulfill their weekly Saturday group run.

A record field of more than 1,500 runners took part in the Wild Turkey run on Thanksgiving Day. Already, nearly 400 people have registered for the 2011 edition of the Frosty Four on Jan. 1.

“This is the biggest boom I’ve ever seen,” Bollen said. “More and more people are taking part in running. … I think it’s a great thing, and cities and towns have embraced it.”

But none on the North Shore has tapped that enthusiasm quite like Salem.

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