Monday, January 23, 2012

In the "Spotlight" with Rich from St. Louis

Meet Rich from St. Louis...He's awesome!!!
Hi, my name is Richard Anderson, and I am currently the president of the St. Louis Track Club, established 1970. Here's some brief facts about our club:
We have over 1000 members, and welcome all levels of participation at our events from elite runners, recreational runners & walkers, to casual walkers. Our annual memberships are $30, which includes everyone in the household. The change from "family" memberships to "household" memberships was an important step forward to include & embrace non-traditional households. The main benefits of our memberships are the monthly magazine, and discounts (more than $30 annually) to all our events. We are a 501(c)3 State of Missouri Not for Profit Corporation, and have (4) paid positions; Office Admin, Web Admin, Editor, and Treasurer.
Our most well known member, 3-time 10,000m Olympian Craig Virgin, was inducted into the 2011 USA Track & Field Hall of Fame December 3, and we stand very proud of his accomplishments. We also have 2 members, Adam MacDowell & Julie Lossos, who have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials, and will be at the starting line to test their skills against the finest in the country in Houston in January.


Here's all about me in a nutshell:
I'm 54 years old, a St. Louis native, and have been involved in track & field for the last 40 years. I've lived here most of my life, with the exception of living in Southern California during the '80s, with a front row seat participating in the rebirth of distance running in the U.S. By education I'm an engineer/physicist, and have worked in the profession since college, both teaching at the college/university level, and in structural design & analysis for several major aerospace companies. I am currently a Senior V.P/Principal Engineer for a St. Louis-based corporation.

My passion has always been physical fitness, specifically running, and I still compete in such events as the Senior Olympics, World Masters Track & Field Outdoor Championships, and the USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships. Although my proudest honor has been to be elected to lead such an organization, steeped generations deep in running tradition, I will be ending my tenure as president of our club on Dec 31, 2011, but will remain on the board of directors to continue my position for the 3rd consecutive year as race director of our marquee race, the 2012 USA Track & Field Regional Half-Marathon Championship/33rd Annual St. Louis Track Club Half-Marathon. This race takes place the first Sunday each November. Our race attracts such international talent as Kenyan standouts Philip Lagat, Sammy Rotich, & Mica Tirop to name a few, but is just as well known as the "less than $50" race, considered by far the best value in our region.
Our race, although a USATF Championship, is also a walker friendly event, and will always be such as long as I am race director. Our focus is inclusiveness, and we have a walkers committee to help us archive this objective, which can get lost without proper attention and planning. We are proud to welcome all levels of ability, and wear this as a badge of honor, a distinction that not all races can claim. We are the only major race to still allow walkup, race day registration in the age of $145 mega races. We embrace our uniqueness
Our club's mission, in a nutshell, is to be the regional resource for providing health & wellness support to the St. Louis metropolitan area, which includes western IL. A second, but just as important part of our mission is to be an excellent community partner, and we do this by supporting charitable organizations with direct funding. We support the Special Olympics, Pathways to Independence, Girls on the Run, & Forest Park Forever, just to name a few. One of the best examples of our success in the region is not our elite races, but our winter "Frostbite Series", which is a 5-week (every other week) winter training/racing series which draws about 8,000 participants. We are proud to be able to provide a venue for our community to stay fit, even in freezing temperatures, from December through February. It is our most popular event, and we consider participation in it as feedback that we are doing something in our community worth doing.
Thanks,
rasignature
Richard Anderson, President
St. Louis Track Club est. 1970
http://www.stlouistrackclub.com
2011MasterLogoWhite
6136 Southwest Ave.
St. Louis MO 63139
(314) 781-3726 (office)
(314) 435-8822 (mobile)

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