1 • Runner Profile: Emma Rose Lopez

• Horseshoe Bend race director’s report

• Run For The Arts race director’s report

• Kids Café report

• About the Challenge Series

• Upcoming Events

Find out about upcoming events and receive race registration reminders each month. (No more than two texts per month.)

wtrc A Periodic Insight into the West Texas Running Club

2017 President Jonathan Botros jonathanbotros@yahoo.com Vice President/Operations/Media Emmanuel Ramirez emmanuel.ramirez1010@gmail.com Secretary Wendy Anderson teachwa@yahoo.com

Treasurer/Webmaster/Registration David Higgins d_higgins69@hotmail.com | [C] 806.535.7788 Outreach: Ron Lubowicz ronlubo@aol.com | [Ph] 806.781.0231 Hydration/Trailer: Tommy Johnson johnson60@ymail.com | [h] 806.781.4842 Board Member – RRCA Delegate: Josh Leyva | leyva510@suddenlink.net Board Member – Social Media: Frank Mendoza | frank@amaonline.com

Board Mbr – Customer Service Dir and Race Calendar: Suzan Caudle | suzan.caudle@yahoo.com [h] 806.799.3813 | [c] 806.787.6708 Board Member: Carol Swinconos swinkie57@gmail.com Board Members: Cody Lass | codylass@gmail.com Autumn Lass | acostalass@gmail.com WTRC Store: PJ Sullivan [h] 806.785.5748 | [p] 806.721.9940 Challenge Series/Newsletter Steve German | steve.german@sbcglobal.net

WTRC Officers,

Board Members,

Directors and

other club

volunteers

Help Wanted:

A few members who would be

willing to help with newsletter

content. Let’s visit!

Email me (Steve German) at

steve.german@sbcglobal.net or

call me at 806.789.7215

Upcoming Race!

Bobby Birdsong

Memorial Run

June 10, 8:00 a.m. 10K | 2M Silent Wings Museum

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Emma Rose Lopez: “...no more fun runs. I’m a big

kid now!”

WTRC MEMBER PROFILE

Emma Lopez

My name is Emma Lopez and I’m 13 years

old. I have been racing since I was eight years old.

Like most kids, I started with the little local fun

runs they did at my school. Everywhere my par-

ents would travel to do races, I would do the one

mile fun run. Then, at one race, the kids’ fun run I

was signed up for turned out to be not even one

hundred meters. This was the day my parents

agreed that I should start doing the 5ks with

them. From then on, I did no more fun runs. I’m

a big kid now! Besides running, somethings I like

to do include: Playing flute, spending time with my beautiful boxer, baking, and playing

basketball. I have won my school spelling bee 3 years in a row, I won the Frenship district

spelling bee one time, and got fourth in Regionals.

I love running. My parents were the ones to introduce me to it. They both help

train me by running with me. I couldn’t be where I am without either one of them. They

motivate me to do my best and never give up.

My favorite club race is the Buffalo Spring Break. In

2016, this was the first race I ever won. My mom won the five

mile and I won the 2 mile. It was a great day for both of us.

Outside of WTRC, I do other races too. One of my favorite races

is the San Antonio Rock N’ Roll 10k. The reason I love this race

so much is because of the memories I have from it. In 2015, I

finished this race as my first 10k. My dad ran the first half with

me and helped get me to that glorious finish line. In 2016, I did

with my dad just for fun, and we had a great time. I also competed with FMS’s s girls’

track team. I ran the 800, 1600, and mile relay. I won 1st in the 800, 1st in the 1600, and

2nd in the mile relay at the LCMS championships. This was another one of my favorite rac-

es.

I like racing because it gives me a chance to be myself. I love putting in hard work

and getting something out of it. I want to thank WTRC because they have put on races

that have helped me progress as a runner and they provide a positive running community.

Author: Emma Rose Lopez

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April 22, 2017

RUN FOR THE ARTS -- 2M

1st Overall Female: Reese Pena from Lubbock Age: 10 Time: 14:21.8

1st Overall Male: Ben Miller from Lubbock Age: 28 Time: 11:09.8

RUN FOR THE ARTS -- 15K

1st Overall Female: Michaela Jansen from Lubbock Age: 44 Time: 1:10:19.0

1st Overall Male: Jeff Chandler from Lubbock Age: 27 Time: 58:45.9

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 13, 2017

HUGH HAYNES MEMORIAL HSB CANYON – 2M

1st Overall Female: Emma Lopez from Wolfforth Age: 12 Time: 13:46.6

1st Overall Male: Colby Sandoval from Lubbock Age: 13 Time: 11:35.3

HUGH HAYNES MEMORIAL HSB CANYON – 6M

1st Overall Female: Amme Blair from Wolfforth Age: 44 Time: 44:30.8

1st Overall Male: Chris Fyock from Lubbock Age: 27 Time: 33:48.8

HUGH HAYNES MEMORIAL HSB CANYON -- 11M

1st Overall Female: Leana Moreno from Lubbock Age: 36 Time: 1:42:15.2

1st Overall Male: Joshua Leyva from Lubbock Age: 37 Time: 1:16:53.5

Overall Race Winners :

Run for the Arts and

Hugh Haynes Memorial Horseshoe Bend

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The 2017 Run for Arts had a good turnout despite

the drastic change in weather Friday night. We

had 360 finishers this year! Not bad with the tem-

perature dropping from 80 to 40 overnight and

the windy

conditions.

I think eve-

ryone had a

good race!

I would like

to recognize

our spon-

sors for this

year’s race! FootTech was a great sponsor again

this year by graciously hosting our Late Registra-

tion and packet pickup. They also helped with a

cash donation and providing shoes for the overall

male & female finishers for the 2 Mile and 15K. We

appreciate them more than we can say!! We also

have a new sponsor this year, Maldo Electric LLC.

Also the owners of Maldo Electric, LLC are run-

ners and WTRC members. We really appreciate

this sponsor!! They are commercial and residential

electricians. I encourage you to give them a try if

you have an electrical need. Joe’s Crab Shack pro-

vided a box of oranges and bananas. Two volun-

teers from Joe’s Crab Shack, Ginny Brundeen and

Alexis Turner worked the Late Registration. They,

along with three other volunteers, manned the 1

Mile and the 3 1/2 mile water stops. Thank you

Joe’s Crab Shack! We had one volunteer, Rhonda,

from the Coronado High School Band Booster

Club work the Late Registration and a group, Hol-

ly Bearden and 5 others that worked the 2 mile

water stop. This water stop is very important be-

cause it gets traffic three times by our 15K run-

ners!

Artie Corelis has gone above and beyond volun-

teering for

me this

year! She

took charge

of the Late

Registra-

tion most

of the day

on Friday

and took a

ton of great

pictures on race day!! Thank you Artie! Carol

Swinconos has turned into a magnificent volun-

teer by being at Late Registration most of Friday

and leading the bicycle riders that help keep all

our runners safe. Bobby Stewart, Donna Stewart,

and Les Kinman assisted her in this feat. Great

job, Terry Dalton, for a wonderful Kid’s Café Fun

Run! We had a fantastic pre-race entertainment.

Terry and his coaches, including Sabrina Ortiz,

Mike Humphrey, and Amme Blair, lead the way

for our 1 Milers! Amme Blair did double duty after

the 1 Mile and gave direction to the runners going

and coming! Thank you, Amme, for your dedica-

tion. Other volunteers that were course monitors,

finish line workers, preparing and monitoring the

refreshment table, and anything else that needed

doing were; Sue & Dave Houser, Autumn Lass,

MaryAnn Schwertner, Josh Woods, Kristen Burns,

Laura Pharis, Kacie Matthews, Tony Aleman and

Ed Price. Thank you David Higgins, Manny

Ramirez, Pj & Wayne Sullivan for doing what you

do almost every race! It wouldn’t be the same

without you. A special thank you to Jim Harris for

all the wonderful unique pictures you took for us! I

love your pictures! Thank you, George Jury, for

setting up the course, doing the 2 Mile turn

around, and helping move the 2 Mile water stop

across the street. Thank you to all the

‘helpers’ who ran and still found time to

help out: Debbie Gelber, Sharla Kinman,

and Tommy Johnson. I appreciate Jona-

than Botros and Tommy Johnson for help-

ing with the awards. I love Race Directing

Run for Arts, but it does

take many volunteers to

make it run smoothly.

Suzan Caudle,

RD Run for Arts

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The turnout was good for the 10th Annual Kids Cafe Fun Run in spite of the unseasonably cold temperature and north wind. Brother and sister Daniel Morales, age 12, and Emily Morales, age 9, were the Overall Male and Female winners. Both kids are from the Wild Wilson's Team Kids Cafe at the Wilson Boys and Girls Club.

More than 130 kids aged 4 to 12 crossed the finish line that morning and they were all winners.

You don’t have to be the first one to cross the finish line to be a winner – just finish! The magic of the finish line provides one of the greatest lessons in life about winning – set a goal, work hard to prepare, and do your best to achieve the goal. The big smile on the faces of each kid when that shiny finisher medal was put around their neck was from pride of accomplishing the goal – crossing the finish line! The magic of the finish line did not end that morning. Many kids wore their finisher medals and race t-shirts to bed that night, to church the next day, and to school the following week.

What’s better than watching kids cross the finish line? In my opinion, there’s only one thing better than watching kids cross the finish line – helping make it happen! A big thank you to all that helped make it happen. Thank you:

• South Plains Food Bank/Kids Cafe and the West Texas Running Club

• All the Team Kids Cafe coaches many of whom are WTRC members

• Unit Directors and staff at each of the Team Kids Cafe locations

• Humdinger Equipment/Randy Holloway who paid for all the running shoes

• FootTech for getting the perfect running shoe for each kid

• All the sponsors: Petra Integrated Construction Strategies, Healthcare Design and Construction, Schlotzsky’s Deli/Chris Lonngren, Sketchers, USA, Covenant Children’s Hospital, Culligan Water of Lubbock and Southwest Sound

• All the volunteers that helped with the Kids Cafe Fun Run

Every kid deserves the chance to be happy and healthy and make themselves proud!

Go Team Kids Cafe!

Terry Dalton

2017 Kids Cafe Fun Run

6

May

Hugh Haynes Memorial Horseshoe Bend

Race Director’s Report

The weather turned out pretty close to

perfect for the Horseshoe Bend Can-

yon runs for 2017. Mid to low 50’s at

the start with a light south wind warm-

ing to the mid 60’s by the end

of the 11 miler with the wind

picking up a little, to just over 10

mph.

The weather may have helped a

little, as a new overall course

record was set in the 6 mile dis-

tance with Chris Fyock running a

33:49 to beat the old record held

by Anthony Herr by 10 seconds. We had a few other age group records set

as well. In the 11 miler, it was the women setting the age group records

with Leesa Price setting a new age group record in the 60-64 category and

PJ Sullivan tied her age group record from last year in the 70-74 age

group. In the 6 miler it was the men setting the age group records as Rog-

er Brooks set a new age group record for the 13-15 age group, John Corelis

in the 50-54 age group, Gorden Jenkins in the 75-79 age group, in the 2

miler Darrel McMillen set a new age group record for the 70-74 age group.

The race went off pretty well with about 20 more runners than last year. Huge thanks to all the volunteers as this one takes a lot with 4 aid stations, 3 turn around spots, lots of dogs to keep track of, and all that fun stuff. One in-teresting tidbit about this race is that it is actually the longest course of any of the club races. The Buffalo Wallow half marathon is longer but it is essentially 2 loops of the same course and the Firecracker 10 miler is 5 miles out and back. For folks that like to cover new ground, this is the race for you!

Nathan Paden

W

T

R

C

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Did You Know…..

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge al-most broke the 2-hour time barrier for the marathon!

See an article at:

http://

www.cnn.com/2017/05/06/

health/sub-two-hour-marathon-

nike/

Be involved with the WTRC Challenge Series

The following pages hold the current (as of the May 2017 Horseshoe

Bend race) Challenge Series standings. If you don’t know about the

Challenge Series the following describes how you can be a participant:

•Be a current WTRC member.

•Runners placing membership before the March race will retroactively earn

points back to January. Runners placing membership after the March race will

retroactively earn points from the race one month prior.

•Volunteer to serve as a non-running worker at one or more Challenge Series

events.

•“Helpers” are workers at a club race who work and run, which does not count

towards their volunteer requirement.

•Race-day volunteers must sign the volunteer sheet available from the Race

Director or Jonathan

Botros once the trailer is

packed and everyone is

ready to go home.

•Packet pick-

up: volunteers must

work a minimum of 2 hrs

at the packet pick-up and

sign the volunteer sheet

available from the race

director. Any packet

pick-up worker who still

runs the race will be counted as a “helper.”

•Run in at least 3 races of the 13 club races.

•Non-running members can still earn miles and be eligible for the 66 Mile

Club (see below), but are not eligible for Challenge Series awards

See the WTRC website for more about the Challenge Series:

http://wtrunning.com/2014/challenge-series/

Did you know…..

Running USA reports

that the largest road

race in America is the

AJC Peachtree Road

Race. There were

54,752 finishers in

2015 ! Makes our races

feel a little less crowd-

ed!! :-))

http://

www.runningusa.org/

statistics

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Each month we like to keep our members up to date on the

upcoming races/events in the area, to keep everyone ac-

tive and engaged!

Upcoming events

@WTRunning

@WTRunning

WTRC Newsletter Editor: Steve German steve.german@sbcglobal.net

West Texas Running Club

wtrunning.com

*June 10 Bobby Birdsong Memorial Run 8:00 a.m. — Silent Wings Museum Race Director: Joshua Leyva June 25 Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 Ironman BSLT Triathlon Inc. Events http://buffalospringslaketriathlon.com/nw/ *July 4 Firecracker Run The longest continuous road race in the State of Texas! (Since 1970) 1M Elem | 3M | 10M 7:30 a.m. Coleman Park, Brownfield, TX Race Director: Gabby Saldana *August 12 Hot Dam Run 2M | 5M 8:00 a.m. Canyon Lakes #6, 22nd and MLK Blvd, Lubbock, TX Race Director: Shannon and Wendy Anderson

August 26 Running the Ropes

Ropesville, TX

5K | 1M | 10K races start at 7:30 a.m.

All you can eat pancakes from 8:00 to 11:00 in the

school cafeteria!

Register at www.soccerbox.club/ropes

*September 9 36th Annual Red Raider Road Race

8:00 a.m. — Texas Tech Univ Rec Center

Race Director: Jonathan Botros

*club races — can be found at www.wtrunning.com

The monthly WTRC business meetings

are held on the first Tuesday of the month

at 6:00 p.m. (except not July!)

Ronald McDonald House —

Manny Ramirez’ place of employment

Texas Tech University 3413 10th St. 79415 All members are welcome to attend!