By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
A group of elite athletes and coaches based in the San Francisco Bay Area
have recently come together to form the Bay Area Track Club (BATC), the
latest group to be recognized by USA Track & Field as a USA Distance
Center. The says it has two main goals:
- To provide support for Olympic athletes and emerging elites.
- To promote running, health, and fitness within the community.
"Our vision is much greater than supporting a small group of elite
runners," explained BATC president Tony Kauke in a statement. "We really
want to support a health and fitness movement, a running movement, across
the Bay Area for people of all ages and abilities."
The BATC's members have represented the United States in international
competition 19 times, and includes national champions and even an
international medallist, Shannon Rowbury. Rowbury, a San Francisco
native who still lives and trains there, was one of the key people behind
setting up the group.
"The idea of a post-collegiate group in the Bay Area is something I and
many other local elite runners have dreamed of for a long time," she said
through a media release. "To be the best athlete I can be I need a
training group. More importantly though, having grown up in the Bay
Area, it is important that I give back. The BATC's community programs
will provide me with the opportunity to have a great impact on youth
fitness."
The club's current roster includes four Olympians: Rowbury (1500m), Blake
Russell (marathon), Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Marathon) and Bolota Asmerom
(5000m). Other members include aspiring Olympians David Torrence
(1500m/3000m), Garrett Heath (1500m), Alysia Johnson (800m), Jon Rankin
(1500m), Clara Horowitz Peterson (5000m/road), Tom Kloos (steeplechase),
Francis Gadayan (800m), and Peter Gilmore (marathon). The club also has
a foreign member, Briton Tim Bayley (1500m).
Several of the club's members will be competing in the USA Indoor
Championships this weekend in Albuquerque, N.M., led by Rowbury, who won
the national women's 3000m indoor title in 2008, and Torrence, the
defending national men's 3000m champion.
ENDS
Learn more at BayAreaTrackClub.com
Sponsored by RUNNER'S WORLD / BURNS COMPUTER SERVICES / SALMINI FILMS
