Category Archives: NEWS

Miscellaneous Empire Runners news!

2014 USATF-PA LDR AWARDS – By John Harmon

Three of our own drew recognition from the Pacific Association of the USATF at its annual Long Distance Running (LDR) banquet – the LDR committee governs the cross country rules, races and awards

Cathy Dubay was named the Outstanding Female Runner of the Year for the 2014 Cross-country Season. In all six races in which she ran, Cathy came first in the Senior Women’s Division – a perfect score which garnered the most individual points possible. As if her racing talents aren’t enough, her enthusiasm and support helped build a roster of 16 Senior Women.

Dale Peterson is a bedrock member of the Empire Runners. He had been an active XC team member until injuries got in the way. He has retaken the trails doing more marathons and long distance races. Along the way, he became a certified USATF official. As such, he has helped at many Pacific Association XC and Road Races joining Bob Shor (whom I’ll get to in a moment). “Dale doesn’t realize it, but he’s good at being an official. Very good.” – Bob’s words. Accordingly, the LDR voted Dale the Volunteer of the Year for the 2014 XC Season.

As for Bob Shor, he is a fixture at any running event. He thoroughly loves officiating. His dedication is unparalleled. And anyone who has experienced Bob’s mastery in person knows “We run on time.” Bob works tirelessly for any event he participates in. For this service, the LDR voted Bob a Lifetime Achievement Award. It doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere soon. He still loves what he does. Except now everyone knows what we have always known – we have a legend in our midst.

Congratulations, Cathy, Dale and Bob!

THE NEW BLOG IS HERE !!!!! By Peterson and Murdoch

With great fanfare the Empire Runners Club announces their new blog!   Take a good look and if you have suggestions or want to participate, please let us know!
There are many advantages to the blog format, both creative and practical. On the creative side, the blog really highlights photography and photos of our members, and allows for posting articles and text into  multiple categories. On a practical side, it allows for online workflow allowing club members to participate in the creation, editing, and publishing of Empire news articles.

That being said, there were mixed emotions in the club about no longer creating a printed newsletter. The number of members who contributed to or served as editor for the Empire Runner Newsletter over the last 35 + years has been nothing short of incredible, and all of those people need to be sincerely appreciated for their contribution and dedication. But the reality is that the number of people that requested a printed newsletter dropped to less than five, and the number of people  actually looking at the PDF version were few.  As we know,  newspapers and magazines have declined dramatically in circulation. The current thinking now by most people is that if they want the most current information or news, they check the internet.

FYI, the blog will still be archived on a monthly basis and will be available for people to download. In addition, on the blog itself it allows you to choose a month, so that you can see everything posted, similar to how you would view the newsletter.

RIP Empire Runners Newsletter  – may those that participated over the decades be sincerely acknowledged, as we move into the future enthusiastic as ever about running, racing and the promotion of a healthy life-style.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Big-Time Club Changes Coming Soon to You by Paul Berg

That’s the lead story of the Empire Runners newsletter for May 2005 (no typo), so I thought I could just recycle the headline exactly 10 years later. The big news of 2005 was the newsletter going online, emailed in PDF format, with a $5 discount for those members who chose to not receive a printed, mailed copy. For the first time, we were able to join the club online, instead of using a paper form and snail mail, although electronic race registration was still a few years off. Other tidbits include: our bank balance was $5500, a proposal for chip timing at Kenwood, and the first Empire run at Lake Sonoma by yours truly and my middle school daughter. (For the full May 2005 newsletter, click the “Back in the day” tab on the left.)

While that issue of the newsletter provides a perspective of how far we’ve come as a successful, vibrant organization, this month marks another momentous leap forward. In an effort to improve communication and participation, we’re entering the 21st century by launching the new Empire Runners blog. A talented gang of four, Doug Murdoch, Dale Petersen, Chris Mason and Dave Abbott, have been working tirelessly since January on the look and feel of the user experience, and the results are impressive. I encourage you to just wander around the site, clicking on what interests you, and I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quickly. The logical links, bold photos and interesting content is sure to make us look back in 2025 and say “what took so long?”.