California Track & Running News July-Aug 2013, VOLUME 39 NUMBER 3 | Page 28

group crown, but well over the current U.S.
M55–59 10K record (32:27, Jim O’Neill, 1993).
“I’ve tried for the 8K record many times, but
I’ve always had to travel. It was freezing cold in
Philadelphia, too much wind in Virginia. So I got
the record on my course,” said Pilcher, who competes for the Tamalpa Runners and lives near the
course in nearby Ross. “I was dying after I went

through 8K to finish the 10K. My last mile was
slow.”
Melody-Anne Schultz—another Tamalpa
runner who lives in Ross—finished in an outstanding 49:04, capturing the women’s age 70-and-over
title but coming up slightly short of the current
U.S. 70–74 age-group record (48:55, Libby James,
2009).

Mitchell Garner

CA Prominent at RRCA Convention

28 ct&rn • July–August 2013

Albuquerque, May 2-5
(L-R) Californians Rich Benyo,
Christine Kennedy, Jeanine
Holmlund, Len Goldman, Karen
Allen, Kevin Lee, and state rep
George Rehmet.

Californians were a strong presence at the awards
banquet for the 55th Annual Road Runners Club of
America (RRCA) national convention. Of the 16 national awards, 5 went to Californians (3 of whom
are members of the Pacific Association of USATF).
The convention had a strong PA/USATF presence
in other ways, as well.
Lake Merritt Joggers & Striders/Tamalpa Runners member Len Goldman was awarded the
Browning Ross Spirit of the RRCA Award for an unsung hero, someone who champions the RRCA
tirelessly and enthusiastically with lifetime volunteer service to the running community for many
years. Goldman was instrumental in the success of
the RRCA national convention when it came to San
Francisco in 2009.
Christine Kennedy of Los Gatos was the second Californian in two years to receive the RRCA
Female Masters Runner of the Year. Last year,
Linda Somers-Smith of San Luis Obispo won this
prestigious award. In 2012 Kennedy won her agegroup division in commanding ways at the Boston
and Chicago marathons. She also won three
USATF national championships: the 8K, 10K, and
cross country. That same year, she was named 2011
Masters Athlete of the Year by USATF’s Masters
Committee. On the awards stage, Kennedy recounted how she started running when she was
inspired by the Dublin Marathon and how her successes are attributed to setting goals each year.
On accepting the award for Road Race of the
Year on behalf of the Kaiser-Permanente Napa Valley Marathon, Rich Benyo (David Hill was codirector) thanked the RRCA for its support of the race.
He attributed the race’s success to the cooperation of fellow race directors. (At the convention,
the Napa Valley Marathon was selected as the

RRCA National Marathon Championship for the
second year in a row.) The Napa Valley Marathon
is the third Northern California race in four years
to win this prestigious award. The San Francisco
Half Marathon, which is put on by Pamakid Runners, won in 2009 and the Presidio 10-Mile, which
is put on by the Guardsmen, won in 2011.
Kevin Lee of San Francisco’s Dolphin South
End Running Club (DSE) was awarded Outstanding Volunteer of the Year in Honor of Rod Steele.
It’s worth noting that he puts on a race nearly
every weekend of the year and volunteers in almost all of the them.
New this year was the Road Runner of the
Year–Challenged Athlete which honors a runner
with disabilities who inspires other disabled athletes and races to include this population. The inaugural award winner was Kerry Kuck, a visually
impaired runner from Denver. This award was developed by RRCA California state pepresentative
and PA/USATF Disabled Athletes chair George
Rehmet and fellow RRCA CA state representative,
PA/USATF member, and disabled athlete Simone
Adair.
Earlier in the day, Meb Keflezighi was prese