The Wicked Running Club is know for it’s very friendly members, but we also have a very big heart! Thanks to the success of our 1st Annual Miles Over the Moon race, we were able to donate some fantastic equipment to the Salem High School XC team.
From left to right: Alison Phelan, Adrian Beato, Khrisna Dasha Corpuz, Brandi Lavoie, Evan Le and Shari Hewson
At the recent monthly Board meeting held at the Salem Senior Center, the Salem High XC coach and captains attended to accept the donation. At the request of the coach, Wicked presented the XC team with 2 prostretchs and 2 balance/ wobble boards — a circular and a square one to strengthen the runners shins and legs.
Front Row:Alison Phelan, Adrian Beato, Khrisna Dasha Corpuz, Brandi Lavoie, Evan Le and Shari Hewson. Back Row: Steph Hagyard, Amber Woolfenden, Rich Tabbut, TR Ramsdell and Melissa Jaynes.
Both items will help the Salem High XC team stay strong and flexible through the season as they do battle with the other teams in their conference.
We have now completed 9 out of the 12 races that make up the Wicked Grand Prix Series. The individual, division, and team scores change after each event as we race down to the finish at the Mill City Relay! The club traveled to Gloucester to complete events with distances of 7k, 10k, and 25k that showcase the variety of terrain offered in the series this year.
The Goose 7k and Around the Cape 25k took place in warm weather on challenging courses. Wicked picked up many age group awards at the Goose 7k despite the fact that many members were given wrong directions during the race. The 25k race has 16 hills and was a great prelude to those of us running a fall marathon.
The Lone Gull 10k was held for the last time in cool autumn weather on the most scenic 10k in the area. Our runners signed up as members of Wicked and our teams placed in all the categories available. The Male Open Team finished 4th and our Male Master Team finished 3rd. The Female Open Team finished 3rd and the Female Master Team finished 2nd. Both Female teams beat our local competitors, the North Shore Striders!
The Wicked Team competition is very close and the eventual winner will need to get their teammates to run the remaining races in the series. The Cheetahs lead with 540 points closely trailed by the Jaguars (530) and the Cougars (520). The top spots in the individual series remain the same. Billy Jackson (465 pts) continues to hold off Chris Nolan (454 pts) in the male division. Beverly HS Cross Country Co-Captain Wendi Marciano (295 pts) leads Danvers Cross Country Coach Annie Rose Willis (271 pts) in the female division.
We have several members doing very well in other race series held on the North Shore. The top spots in the North Shore YMCA series are held by Wicked Runners. Erich O’Neil has the Overall Male Lead, and the father/son combination Dave and Joe Long are tied for 3rd place. Leaders in the their age groups include Annie Rose Willis, Donna Greenberg, and Aaron Toleos. The North Shore Trail series male leader is Dave Long. Aaron Toleos and Lynn Woods Organizer Bill Mullen lead their respective divisions.
I would like to give a big thanks to former Grand Prix scoring guru Dan Barrett for coming to my house very early on a Sunday morning to show me how to download Cool Running results into my spreadsheets. As always, thanks to T.R. for coming to support everyone (screaming) as they finish every Grand Prix series race and sending those inspiring e-mails prior to each event.
Please e-mail any corrections to me at welshhammer@gmail.com. The corrections will appear in the next series results. The next race in the series is the Fall Frolic 5K at Lynch Park in Beverly on Sunday, Oct. 16th at 9:30 a.m. Co-President Shari Hewson is the race director for this event that follows the Beverly Homecoming course and benefits the Beverly Elementary Schools.
For the complete schedule and results of Grand Prix races please visit the Wicked Grand Prix page.
With bright sunshine, some wonderful sponsors and 80 runners, the 1st Annual Salem Run@Work Day was a huge success for the City of Salem. Salem Park, Recreation and Community Services & the Wicked Running Club hosted this terrific event for workers not only in the City of Salem, but also for anyone around the North Shore that wanted to get a mid day run. 15 kids from the Phoenix School in Salem also participated!
Best of all, the 5K fun run was free as well as the Salem Run@Work Day shirts that are sure to be a collectors item! Mayor Kim Driscoll also stopped by to lend her support as she has done with the many other running events that Salem has to offer.
Salem Run@Work Day runners take a moment to pose for a quick photo before taking part in a 5K fun run.
The goal of Run@Work Day, presented by the Road Runners Club of America, is to encourage adults to get 30-minutes of exercise each day, in accordance with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, either before work, during lunch, or immediately following work. Run@Work Day also encourages companies to help employees schedule time for physical activity. Incorporating exercise into one’s daily routine can markedly improve one’s overall physical health.
Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem talks to a group of runners at Salem Run@Work Day.
To celebrate Salem being designated as a Runner Friendly Community by the Road Runners Club of America, runners received a car sticker featuring the RRCA Runner Friendly Community logo. Hopefully we will start to see more of these stickers on cars that support the running community of Salem, Massachusetts!
Thank you to all of our wondeful sponsors: B&S Fitness, Extra Effort Fitness, Body & Soul, Old Colony Running Events, St. Jean’s Credit Union, Boston Sports Club, Salem YMCA, New England Running Company, Shetland Properties, Salemroadraces.com North Shore Road Race Guide and Toomey Sports.
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
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.
Wicked had a great week between the Derby Street Mile and the Lynn Woods Relay recently! Since the events were so close together, I have combined the results on the documents that have been downloaded to Wicked Grand Prix Series on the website. Tim has updated the picture that appears on the top of the page as well.
We had an amazing 75 Wicked Members come out and support Doug Bollen by participating in the Derby Street Mile! Members picked up lots of medals and many came home with some nice raffle prizes as well. The weather was pretty good for this time of year and it was nice to see entire families run together in this event. The Adams family from Beverly had 6 members run the Family mile and their ages ranged from 4 years to 38 years old.
Kerry Phelan did an outstanding job, with a little help from her friends, organizing 14 teams for the Lynn Woods Relay. I find that relays are the events that club members enjoy the most and this was no exception. It’s even better when every member who ran got the club to pay the entry fee and free dinner afterwards. We doubled the team points to 20 for everyone who ran and 50 points goes towards the individual series for each participant.
I’m happy to announce that about 50% of the entire club has run in the 2011 Grand Prix series, 144 members! I was amazed to see our pregnant club member Caitlyn Gaglione run the entire relay course and she is the leading scorer in the Women’s Open Division in the Grand Prix Series. That’s what makes this club really special, how we support each other every day.
Please e-mail any corrections to me at welshhammer@gmail.com. The corrections will appear in the next series results. The next race in the series is your choice of the Run the Goose 7K or the Around the Cape 25K on Monday, September 5th at 9 am at the O’Maley Middle School in Gloucester, MA. We wanted to give everyone the chance to run as many race distances as possible in this series. Marathoner types can run the challenging beautiful 25K course around Cape Ann. Runners who like a combination road/cross country adventure can run the only 7K event in the local area. The races will be scored exactly the same for the series, so take your choice.
See you at the races!
For the complete schedule of Grand Prix races please visit the Wicked Grand Prix page.
