Pace Setter : April 2024

President’s Message by Ravi Chauhan

HMRRC Runners,

April is here! I turn 48 this month, but don’t worry, I don’t expect any presents. April brings two club races, the Delmar Dash and the Bill Robinson 10k along with preview runs on Thursday nights. We are also in high preps for the Workforce Team Challenge and already looking for volunteers, but the race numbers are looking strong for this year as runners and walkers are ready to get back downtown for a run with friends and colleagues.

The Delmar Dash is a 5-miler coordinated by David Tromp and runs through the neighborhoods of Bethlehem, starting and ending at the middle school. Bryant Asset Management has been the primary sponsor for the event for a number of years and David continues to put on a great race for the community. I’m a big fan of the shirts and the 5 year age grade awards are a big hit too. The Dash is a grand prix event, so don’t forget to check out where you stand on the leaderboard.

The club continues this year with our mission to support the running community through our many partners and programs. Denis Hurley has been busy gathering scholarship applications for this year and I’m sure he and his team will be busy over the next two months culling through our impressive high school runners.

Ken Skinner and Tom McGuire are also busy getting the Just Run program going for the spring track event. This year, we’re working with WildLine Productions to develop a video of the event, similar to the Marathon video we assembled last year. I’m sure the kids are looking forward to the event and getting into shape with their after school workouts. We were able to secure some private funding and public sponsors, to help keep this great event going, and are excited to have a couple new schools signed up this year.

The CDPHP team is excited to bring us the team challenge again this year. The race numbers are back up with approximately 3500 runners registered this morning, which is on track with previous years where the race sold out at 10,000 runners. The team at CDPHP offers a lot of other health-conscious events which you can sign up through their Facebook page.

I know it seems like we just got through the winter, but we are also excited to partner with the Kinderhook running club as they organize their bus to the Boilermaker this year. Spots are still available, from what I can tell from their website. Taking the bus to the race is a great way to meet people and have a lot of fun both to and from the race.

Lastly, Carol, John, Div and I were at the ADK Sports expo the weekend of the Running of the Green. I missed the course record being broken, but got to meet a lot of hikers, paddlers, and runners to tell them about the club. Gave out some free stuff and got a couple new members.

Hope you all have a good April and can get outside for some spring training.

Happy Running,
Ravi Chauhan, President

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