Road Runners Club of America: News

The RRCA has partnered with Gatorade to bring our members a discounted purchase program for Gatorade product.  This is a great cost savings opportunity for RRCA members that do not qualify for the Gatorade Sponsorship program with the RRCA.

Products available through the purchase program include:

• Gatorade Thirst Quencher lemon-lime powder in 14-51 oz. cased - $86.00/case
• 8 oz. cups - $79.50 per case
• 7-gallon coolers - $54/unit

The above prices are for 2010 only and do not include shipping costs.  Any RRCA member event interested in utilizing the purchase program must contact the RRCA no less than 45-days in advance of their event to obtain an official purchase order form. The order must also be placed within 45-days of the event. To obtain a purchase order, you must email to request the purchase order form.  You must include your name and the name of your club or event in the email so we can verify RRCA membership.  The purchase order will be emailed to you.  You may use it for additional events, but you may not transfer the purchase order to non-RRCA members.  Do not email purchase requests to the RRCA.  You must follow the ordering instructions on the purchase form you receive from the RRCA.

Portland, OR - Leslie Jordan, a strong advocate of RRCA and supporter of the organization’s dedication to the running community, has joined the RRCA as a Gold Level supporter for 2010.

Her apparel design and manufacturing company, Leslie Jordan, Inc., is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has grown to represent the running industry standard in quality, design and service.  Under the leadership of Leslie beginning in 1986, Leslie Jordan Inc. has grown into a multi-dimensional company.  Further testament to Leslie’s success as an independent business owner is her induction into the Running USA Hall of Champions in 2006.  This honor is only awarded to outstanding individuals who are recognized in the running community for their commitment to the industry.

“Our corporate motto - ‘We’ve got you covered from…...Head to Toe, Start to Finish’ is best evidenced by the makeup of our team.  From R&D, Production, Graphic Design, Sales and Marketing and Shipping, we can create new products or modify existing ones to meet your needs,” stated Leslie. “For almost 25 years this strong close knit team working together is why Leslie Jordan, Inc. has not missed an event date.”

Learn more about Leslie Jordan.

Learn more about the RRCA Corporate Supporters.

The RRCA offers affordable equipment insurance to all of our members through the Inland Marine Equipment Floater Policy and is available directly from Star Insurance. To obtain a piece of mind and coverage for your equipment all you need to do complete a simple application, include a narrative describing the facility where your equipment is housed, and provide a list of the equipment you wish to insure. The policy period runs from March 1st to March 31st of the next year, and the premium is $2.30 per $100.00 of the equipment’s replacement cost. Premiums for equipment insurance are sent directly to Star Insurance. Click here to access the equipment insurance application.

Download Equipment Insurance Application (Word doc)

Click here for more information about the RRCA Insurance program for members.

Lakeland, FL – The Lakeland Runners Club and Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing are pleased to announce the educational sessions that have been developed for the 52nd Annual RRCA National Convention.  The RRCA Convention will be held April 21-25, 2010 and includes the 2010 RRCA National 5K Championship race, Race the Lakes, and the Nation Running Awards banquet. Additional speakers for our panels are being finalized and will be announced soon.

Friday April 23rd Education Sessions

General Sessions

Insurance & Risk Management – Presented by Star Insurance and K&K Insurance
Presented by Terry Diller - Come learn about best practices in risk management from recent lessons learned from insurance claims.  Learn about new RRCA insurance program enhancements and how they benefit your club and event. 

Lobbying for Nonprofit Running Clubs – Sponsored by the RRCA
Presented by Jeannie Fox, CLPI Training Fellow – Learn about the laws that govern grassroots advocacy and lobbying activities for nonprofit organizations. This session will cover the differences between direct and grassroots lobbying and other important concepts for nonprofit lobbying activities.

Developing Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns - Sponsored by the RRCA
Presented by Jeannie Fox, CLPI Training Fellow – Learn how to develop grassroots advocacy campaigns that clubs can implement locally.  These locally developed campaigns will address ideas such as runners’ safety initiatives, community health promotion initiatives, multi-use trail development and maintenance initiatives, and many other topics of interest to the running community.

Break-out Sessions

Non-running Events and Creative Group Runs to Build Club Camaraderie
Join RRCA Board Member, Kelly Richards as she leads an engaging discussion about great ideas for social events to build your club community beyond just regular group runs. Learn about fun ideas for making your group runs more engaging and safe.

How to Manage Race Growth
Events around the country are growing.  Come learn about strategies to manage race growth to ensure continued success.  Learn about strategies to help you grow our race. Learn about strategies for working with your local convention and visitors bureau or local sports commissions.  Learn about strategies for tapping into new resources for your event through your CVBs.

Developing Programs for Older Runners & Walkers
Gary Cohen will explore the ways to maintain running fitness and stay healthy for older runners as well as those at various fitness levels.  Gary’s session will include how to build a base of health and fitness, maintaining intensity as you age, soft surface running, as well as strength training and recovery. 

Saturday April 24th Education Sessions

“Join a Club” - Strategies for Growing Your Club
Presented by Libby Jones, 2008 RRCA Club President of the Year - Learn about strategies to grow your club membership from leaders who have significantly grown their club membership numbers.  Learn how to incorporate social networking and up-to-date web technology into your communication strategies for growing your club.

Kids Run the Nation
Present by Eve Mills, RRCA Director of Program Services – Learn about how you can implement a youth running program such as Kids Run the Nation in your community.  Learn about safety issues for youth clubs and best practices and lessons learned for hosting youth events.

Hosting RRCA Programs: The Convention, Championship Events, and Coaching Certification Courses
Present by George Rehment and David Cotter – Learn about the benefits for your club for hosting the RRCA Convention.  Learn about hosting an RRCA Championship event and sponsorship opportunities.  Learn about hosting a coaching certification course for your community to train adult distance coaches for your club.

Injury Prevention/Shoe Fit Clinic
Presented by Tim Hilden, MS, PT, ATC - Tim is a member of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine team since 1998. Tim is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, and exercise physiologist.  In addition to his physical therapy patient load, Tim specializes in walking and running gait analysis. Tim will outline common injuries related to shoe fit and how the proper shoe can prevent injuries and help you run more efficiently along with other injury prevention tips.

Putting on a Half Marathon & Marathon
Learn about best practices in putting on a half marathon and marathon by Jon Hughes race director of the Disney marathon and Susan Hemmerling race director for the Gasparilla marathon.

Chi Running – Sponsored by Chi Running
Presented by Danny & Katherine Dreyer - Chi Running has become widely acknowledged for helping beginning runners, marathoners, triathletes, and recreational runners get to the source of running-related problems by improving their running technique. In the five short years since it was introduced nationally, Chi Running has helped to reshape the landscape of the sport of running by making running more accessible and appealing to people who have stopped running due to injury, who are intimidated by the difficulty and potential danger of running, who want to improve their competitive edge, and for those who want to maintain a joyful relationship to their running.

Nutrition, Supplements, and Performance Enhancers
Presented by Cassie Dimmick MS, RD, LD -You have all heard the advertisements from companies that make performance enhancing products. “Drink this and you will run faster, eat this and you will get a PR”, and the list goes on. A lot of times the marketing of these products is way ahead of the science, which makes it confusing. In this informative class, Registered Dietitian and Board Certified Sports Nutritionist Cassie Dimmick will explain what you really need to be eating and drinking to perform at your best. She will go over the science behind the recommendations, along with false claims that are out there.  Don’t waste your time and money on a product that is just hype! Learn from a sports nutrition expert what you need to include, and what you can leave out, in your training and racing diet to perform at your best.

Working with Charities
Presented by Jean Knaack, RRCA Executive Director – Learn about strategies for working with local charities to raise funds.  Review proper organization of your event or club to ensure you meet IRS and RRCA guidelines on what is a nonprofit running club or event.  Discuss strategies for increasing running as a charity of choice for events.

Writing about Running to Promote Your Club or Event
Presented by Hal Higdon - Want to start a newsletter to promote your club or communicate to your club in a more effective way?  Learn tips from award winning author Hal Higdon and an esteemed panel of RRCA writing award recipients and running journalists. Learn strategies for effective use of social networking sites.  Learn about user friendly website builder tools and how you can incorporate social networking into your communication strategies.

Click here for more information about the RRCA Convention and to register today!

The RRCA is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual RRCA National Race Shirt Contest. This is an opportunity to showcase your event from a little different angle. The RRCA is seeking shirts (long or short sleeve, cotton or performance) from 2009 events hosted by RRCA members. Only one shirt per event is needed, size does not matter. A club hosting multiple events can submit entries for multiple races.

**The race shirt must have the RRCA logo on it to be considered for judging**

All entries should be mailed to the RRCA National Office at 1501 Lee Hwy, Ste 140, Arlington, VA, 22209 by February 26, 2010. Please include the name of the event, event date, location, host club, contact name, contact email, and contact phone number with the shirt.

A first round of judging will take place at the RRCA National Office by a team of local club members. Attendees to the 2010 RRCA Convention (www.rrcaconvention.org) will have the opportunity to vote on the finalists to select the 2009 RRCA National Race Shirt Winner. The winning shirt will be announced at the 2010 RRCA Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony and featured in a future issue of Club Running.

Thank you to our members that have already entered this fun competition.

In order to expedite the process for issuing additional insured certificates for RRCA members’ events, the RRCA has work closely with Star Insurance to develop a new online request form for additional insured certificates.  The growth of the RRCA and our members’ events along with their growing needs for additional insured certificates has proven that the former Word document form used to request the additional insured certificates was no longer a feasible option for quick processing of requests.

The new online request form can be found at the top of the RRCA Insurance Information page.  All requests submitted prior to today, will be processed from the Word forms submitted.  We encourage members with the older Word form on file to eliminate using it, and submit all future requests using the new online form.  Please be sure to review the Insurance FAQ’s also found on the insurance information page to understand what will and will not be covered with additional insured certificates. 

Members with questions for Star Insurance can direct inquiries to .

RRCA Coaching Certification Courses Announced for WI and NJ

CONTACT: Patti Finke, RRCA Coaching Committee Chairperson
coaching@rrca.org

Complete list of RRCA Coaching Certification Courses

The RRCA will be holding coaching certifications June 12-13, 2010 in Green Bay, WI and June 19-20, 2010 in Saint James, NY.

The certifications are designed for coaching adult endurance runners for road running. There are currently over 1,030 RRCA certified coaches across the US and Canada.  The 2-day program includes 16 hours of coursework and an online multiple-choice exam with immediate results.

Day one will be The Basis of Training. The curriculum will include the Fundamentals of Coaching, Rules of Training, Physiology, Psychology, Injury Prevention and Nutrition.  Day two will be devoted to the Techniques of Training. It will cover developing training plans, cycles, and progressions, speed work and other related topics. Group exercises will teach how to apply the topics covered.

The Green Bay, WI certification will be taught by Patti & Warren Finke. Patti is an exercise physiologist and RRCA certified running coach. As the current chairperson of the Road Runners Club of America coaching committee, Patti instructs and certifies running coaches. She coaches individuals and groups of runners and walkers for distance from 5k to ultramarathons. Patti has been coaching runners and walkers for over 25 years. She is a Director and Founder of the Portland Marathon Training Clinic and author of “Marathoning Start To Finish”. She is the author of many articles on training and racing for local, national and international publications. She has been running and racing for 30 years. She has held individual U.S. age records for 50km and 50mi and has three times been Oregon Road Runners Club Age group runner of the year. Warren is a RRCA certified running coach and fitness consultant. He is an instructor for the Road Runners Club of America coaching certification program. Warren has been coaching beginning to elite road and trail runners for more than 25 years. He is a Director and Founder of the Portland Marathon Training Clinic and co-author of “Marathoning Start To Finish”. Warren has authored or contributed to numerous local, national and international publications. He has competed in over 170 marathons and ultramarathons winning more than 20. He is 2-time U.S. track record holder for 100km and was the 2nd place veterans finisher in the 1992 Boston Marathon.

The Saint James, NY certification will be taught by Janet Hamilton and Mike Broderick, both RRCA certified coaches. Janet is an Exercise Physiologist who specializes in biomechanics, gait analysis, and exercise program design. She is a certified strength and conditioning specialist who has been working with athletes of all ages for over 18 years. Janet is an avid runner and marathoner. She provides wellness programs, rehab coaching and injury prevention programs through Running Strong. Running Strong is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Mike is a Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) certified running coach and is one of the four course instructors for the RRCA Coaching Certification program, which trains and certifies adult distance running coaches nationwide. He is certified as a personal trainer by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) and National Strength Professionals Association (NSPA). Mike has run 14 marathons and over 30 ultra marathons from 50K to 100 miles. He offers individual coaching for runners from beginners to ultra marathoners and directs two separate group marathon training programs, the Experienced Marathoner’s Program for the Montgomery County Road Runners Club and the Boston Bound Marathon Program. Mike also provides personal fitness training for a wide variety of individuals from athletes to physically challenged adults and is an instructor for group aquatic exercise programs for strength and conditioning.

Cost for the 2-day certification class is $250. You must register for the certification class at least 2 weeks prior to attending or before it is filled, (limited to 30). Classes tend to fill early, so register as soon as possible. Click here or additional information about these and other courses.
Learn more about the RRCA Coaching Program

Continuing Education Credits
The American College of Sports Medicine’s Professional Education Committee certifies that this offering meets the criteria for 16.0 credit hours of ACSM Continuing Education Credit.

As the Washington, DC area continues to deal with the unusually heavy snow conditions, the RRCA National Office is closed on Wednesday February 10th along with the Federal Government.  If you need immediate assistance with RRCA Membership renewal, please email for assistance.  Please be sure to include your club or event name and your full name and email address in your email.  We will keep members informed about the RRCA National Office hours as we manage through the weather that this region is not accustomed to dealing with, read more about it on the Washington Post.

We are happy to welcome John Childs as the new RRCA State Representative for Massachusetts. After a successful running career at Bishop Fenwick High School where he was a division cross country champion and at Northeastern University where he ran sub 4:10 in the mile, competed in the Milrose games, placed in many New England Championships and had a top 100 finish at the Falmouth Road Race, John retreated from the sport to pursue his career and start a family.  He continued running off and on for exercise but didn’t compete.  After almost twenty five years John joined a running group and began training again in 2006. 

In 2007 John organized a road race to benefit the victims of an explosion in Danversport, MA   and decided he enjoyed the challenge. In 2008 he founded the “End of Summer Classic” in Hingham, MA which has become quite successful in just two years. In spring 2010 he plans to organize an expo on the South Shore in conjunction with the Colonial Road Runners to showcase local running clubs and races and to promote the sport.  All area clubs and races are welcome to participate. His ultimate goal is to strengthen the bond between the running clubs in Massachusetts. He feels that the best way to accomplish this is thru networking opportunities like the expo and by building relationships with fellow RRCA member organizations.

John is married and has two teenagers and two dogs who keep him and his wife Kathy very busy.

The RRCA has developed several ways to get and share RRCA News and information.  We invite our members to update their club websites with the new RRCA News syndication code.  Syndicating the RRCA News on your club’s website is a great way to help support the RRCA and our mission to promote running nationwide.

Code to Syndicate RRCA News Directly on Your Website

Download the Code (Word doc)

Code to Syndicate Running News on Your Website

Download the Running News Code (word doc)

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