NEWSLETTER NUMBER
ONE – February 7, 2002
Activity of the fledgling 100 Marathon Club North America is increasing daily, and it is time to let the charter members know what the Dolphin Marathon Team has been doing. The team is composed of my wife Lenore and myself (Bob). We are co-directors of the Yakima River Canyon Marathon and the 100 Marathon Club NA. Lenore is the well-organized manager who takes care of all of the various administrative functions associated with the club, the YRCM, and our travels to 18-20 marathons per year.
After Lenore and I were married
seven years ago, we kept both of our homes.
They are 150 miles apart, so consequently we divide our time between her
home of 42 years in Renton, Washington, (adjacent to rainy Seattle) and mine of
14 years in Yakima, Washington, (across the mountains in the central part of
the state where it’s hotter and drier.)
To date, we have 80 members in the club….including four from the 100 Marathon Club United Kingdom and three from the 100 Marathon Club Germany. One member is from Sweden, two from Canada, and the balance are from the United States. Many of the members also belong to the 50 States & DC Group, the 50 States Marathon Club, and Marathon Achievers. The latter is a group that is composed primarily of marathoners and ultramarathoners from the Pacific Northwest who have run 30+ marathons and/or ultras.
A club directory will be forthcoming in the near future….once we get past the second annual Yakima River Canyon Marathon. This event will be on Saturday, April 6, 2002. Club members are welcome, and we will have tables reserved for them and 50 Staters at the post race Awards Ceremony/Meal as we did in 2001. For information on the marathon see http://www.ontherun.com/yrcm. A number of 100 Marathon Club members have signed up for the marathon already.
Orders for the short-sleeved, teal T-shirts and the long-sleeved, white T-shirts with the club logo on them are being filled routinely as we work with a local supplier. This is the same person who provides the shirts and sweatshirts for our marathon.
We’re working with our local awards sponsor for a club medallion for members to purchase. Hopefully, we will find something that is appropriate, attractive, economical, and available soon.
Lenore and I are neophytes when it comes to computers. At least she knows how to type and send e-mails. I don’t! It would be nice to have a club website, so if anyone has the knowledge, experience and interest in setting one up for the club, please let us know.
At some point once the club has grown and stabilized, there may come a need to have officers, by-laws, meetings and other functions as many clubs do. I am agreeable to these developments but do not wish to get into these areas until the need arises. Let’s keep it simple for now.
As a part of each newsletter, I plan to report on the accomplishments of one or more of our members. Since everyone who has run 100 or more marathons has an interesting story to tell, I hope that no one feels neglected as I do this.
In the last five years or so, I often met a runner who had traveled the farthest to get there. That was Ray Scharenbrock, 67, of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ray has been running 48 marathons per year for a number of years to bring his marathon/ultra count to 433 as of mid January. In so doing he has completed SIX CIRCUITS of the 50 States & DC and is well along on his 7th cycle!! He has run marathons in all of the Canadian Provinces and on all seven continents. His goal for 2002 is to complete a second continent circuit. We wish him the best of luck as he pursues this intercontinental adventure.
Steve Frederickson, 54, of Kent, Washington, is a Marathon Achiever (MA). According to the statistics that Ron Nicholl published in his MA annual report for 2001, Steve has run 128 marathons/ultras equally divided between the two categories. In 2001 Steve ran 12 events again….including seven ultras. When I met him at the Pacific Rim One Day run in Longview, WA, in March 1992, Steve was racewalking the event. This interest in racewalking led to his becoming the racewalking record holder for the Ultramarathon de Panama. This is a 50.4 mile race across the Isthmus of Panama, from ocean to ocean! Steve, however, runs most of his races and has a 3:03:30 marathon personal record. He’s another runner who has run marathons on all of the seven continents. His Asia marathon to finish the cycle was in Mongolia.
The name Wally Herman (Ottawa, Ontario) was one that I had heard for years. I finally met him at the finish area of the Crater Lake Marathon on August 14, 1999, after he had received the first place award in the 70-74M division. That meeting was brief, but Lenore and I had the opportunity to become better acquainted with him at the Oklahoma Marathon in Tulsa on November 17, 2001. Wally’s credentials are remarkable. He has been a marathoner since 1976 and runs 20-25 marathons/ultras per year. He is the first runner to have completed the 50 States and DC circuit. As of November 19, 2001, his impressive total is 451 marathons and 142 ultras….closing in on the BIG 600 total!! He has run marathons or ultras on seven continents and in 96 countries.
K-G Nystrom, 60+, of Sjuntorp, Sweden, is a prolific marathoner. I became acquainted with him at the Portland (Oregon) Marathon and at the Seattle Marathon several years ago. The last time I ran a race with him was at the Oklahoma Marathon last November. I was amazed to see him on the course using arm crutches. He was moving along at a good clip as he overcame a physical problem. He told me he had used crutches on several occasions this past year. As of the first of the year, K-G had run 586 marathons including 31 ultras….a phenomenal record!!
We first met Don McNelly seven or eight years ago at the Sri Chinmoy 12 Hour Run at an outdoor track at Tsawwassen, British Columbia. Don was adding British Columbia to his Province list. Lenore and I renewed acquaintances with him at the Oklahoma Marathon last November. Don is really an avid megamarathoner. After reaching the age of 70, he has run 323 marathons and ultras. Of that number 27 have been run since the age of 80!! As of today, he has run 501 marathons and 93 ultras for a grand total of 594! Will he get to #600 before Wally Herman does!!!
When I ran the 1985 Boston Marathon, I was given a complimentary book about running titled Spaghetti Every Friday. This is a delightful story about Bob Fletcher’s saga of a MARATHONING YEAR when he took a sabbatical from work. He and his wife traveled in a camper from their Texas home to all parts of the country. The theme was “50.” To celebrate his 50th birthday, Bob ran marathons in all 50 states in 50 weeks. He is making Spaghetti Every Friday available to 100 Marathon Club NA members at a discount. The $12.95 list price is reduced to $10.95 (plus a $2.00 shipping charge and $1.05 sales tax for Texas residents). To order, send a check and note identifying your 100 Marathon Club membership to: The Witte Co., .O. Box 7, Fredericksburg, TX 78624.
Congratulations to Bill Whipp from Cincinnati, Ohio, for completing his 100th marathon on February 3, 2002. That’s his 100th marathon after a total knee replacement in December of 1997!!! His old knee ran 26 marathons. This gives him a grand total of 126. He wonders if he in the first person in the world to complete 100 marathons/ultras with a total joint replacement (knee or hip).
If any club member has the answer to William’s question, please let us know. To communicate with Lenore and me, our e-mail address is dolphinmteam@earthlink.net. Our telephone numbers are (425)226-1518 (Renton) and (509)966-0188 (Yakima). Our address is: Bob & Lenore Dolphin, 10519 126th Avenue S.E., Renton, WA 98056.
The first application form did not have a request for birth dates. Please send these to us if you haven’t already done so. If you haven’t filled out a registration form or sent in a list of your marathons, please do that also….the more detailed the better (e.g., date, place, name of the event, finishing time). At the end of each year, please send us your marathon/ultra cumulative count. Details are optional Please keep us posted as to changes in mailing and e-mail addresses and telephone numbers.
We welcome items for future newsletters.
Bob and Lenore Dolphin