LRC 2009
Runner Awards Nominations

Female Runner of the Year

Ramona Hartweg

Ramona has run well and she had finished in the top 3 places in her age group for most of the year.

Carol Pratt

Carol had a great year. She ran at least one mile every single day of the year. This aggressive training enabled her to compete in races ranging in distances from 1 mile on the track to a 70.6 mile (Half Iron) Triathlon. Carol qualified for the Boston marathon with a 3:47:35 3rd place age group effort at the Illinois marathon. It had been thirteen years since her last marathon.

Carol was the overall winner of three races, and was consistently at the top of many Masters awards. She placed at the Steelhead Half Ironman Triathlon in a time of 6:03:19, a PR. She competed in nine circuit races.

Carol is a role model with her coaching efforts at Fieldcrest high school, producing state qualifiers. She also volunteers with the Lake Run Club, Starved Rock Runners Club and the Peoria Area Track & Field club. Carol continues to epitomize success as a runner. Her encouragement, positive attitude and determination are great influences for the running community.

Robert Park

George Brown

George has completed his journey to run a marathon in every state & DC. Consistently placed 1st or 2nd in age group 45-49 in the LRC.

Dennis Killian

Dennis’s 2009 accomplishments are awe-inspiring. He competed in 24 races, including 10 full marathons, 6 triathlons (including Ironman Coure de Alene and Ironman Wisconsin), 2 relays, 2 half marathons and some local favorites. What might be considered equally impressive is he has gone the year without injury, which has made him a role model for preparation, recovery in addition to the determination he’s shown throughout 2009. He is closing in on his goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states. Thus far, he’s run a full marathon in 39 states, 5 countries and 76 marathons.

Mike Heffron

For several years, Mike Heffron has been one of the fastest runners in our area. His speed was also respected against national and world competition in 2009. In July, Mike took 7th overall at the USATF 5K National Outdoor Championships. Then he placed 9th and 13th at the World Masters Championships in Finland for the 8K and 5K distances. The highlight of his year was likely the 16:09 5K he ran while in Finland. Although his 1:17.25 Lincoln Half Marathon and 23:48 Lake Run efforts were equally as impressive. Mike competed in twenty-five races in 2009 (at least eight on the LRC circuit). He placed in each, was the overall winner in six, and the Master’s winner in ten. Mike frequently attended the ABC runs, was an assistant coach for Normal West Track & Field, a volunteer coach for the El Paso youth running club and was the El Paso-Gridley Junior High Head Cross Country coach. Mike is a great mentor and influence in the running community.

Kelsey McCollom

Kelsey showcased her talent in 2009, winning awards in all of her races. Her highlights included a 3rd female finisher placing at the St. Patrick’s Day 5K (18:31), taking 2nd in her age group at the Illinois Half Marathon in a time of 1:25:58 (6:34), 2nd female finisher at the Lake Run 12K, 2nd female finisher at the Steamboat 15K Classic (1:04:41) and a 2nd place age group finish at the Shoreline Classic 15K. Kelsey will be one to watch for years to come.

Rexie, Alyse and Alexis Lanier

Jeff, his wife Rexie and their twin daughters Alyse and Alexis sprinted into the running scene in 2009. As a family, they completed a combined 18 LRC circuit races. Jeff and Rexie finished their first half marathon (U of Illinois) in April, then completed two more throughout the year (Chicago R&R, Indianapolis). Their new found passion for running has been a great influence on Alyse and Alexis who run cross country and track & field for Chiddix.

Ramona Hartweg

I would like to Nominate Ramona Hartweg as Best New Female Runner. She is at the top of her division. At the current time and hopefully at the end of the season has the most points in the entire club. She normally run in ultra marathons. She has also been helpful volunteering for Adopt-a-highway clean up.

Rob Johnson

Rob Johnson would participate in a couple races a year, but never put any time into training or setting any specific running goals. That all changed in 2009. Rob dedicated the time and stuck to training plans that took his 5K time from 31:28 at Jingle Bell Peoria in 2008 to 20:21 (his current PR) at the same race this year. Rob has completed 29 races this year of various distances, which included venturing into longer distances for the first time. Rob completed two half marathons (Rock and Roll Chicago – 1:53:54 and USAF – 1:49:28) and the Chicago Marathon (4:35:11). Rob is currently training for his next marathon, Mercedes Marathon, February 14, 2010. He also plans to run IL Marathon and Chicago Marathon next year.

Jeff Lanier

Jeff, his wife Rexie and their twin daughters Alyse and Alexis sprinted into the running scene in 2009. As a family, they completed a combined 18 LRC circuit races. Jeff and Rexie finished their first half marathon (U of Illinois) in April, then completed two more throughout the year (Chicago R&R, Indianapolis). Their new found passion for running has been a great influence on Alyse and Alexis who run cross country and track & field for Chiddix.

Grant Rucker

He was signed up for Catch the Wave by his wife Jamie, prior year Catch the Wave participant, and went. He didn’t like it so much until he ran Lake Run. He’s run several races this year and continues to improve and ask questions on how to get better.

Rachel Kerrick

Christine Johnson

Her numbers speak for themselves. She has been running only since March of 2003. Originally a 28 min. 5K gal, she has improved to a new PR of 22:35 in November of 2009. She competed in 29 races this year, placing in her age group in 20 of those efforts.

She finished 15 circuit races, 3 half marathons and her 1st marathon Chicago this year and is hooked, second Marathon is planned for Valentine’s Day 2010.

This was a year of great improvement for Christine. She set personal records in 8 distances. She improved her 5K time by 4:27 (from 25:52 to 21:25), her 10K time by 12:27 (from 1:00:42 to 48:15), and her half marathon by 21:09 (from 2:13 to 1:51).

Mary Pinkham

Now that she is retired and has more time to run in daylight hours, she has been running farther and faster. She is racking up medals and PRs, and has won her age division in races several times this year. She ran Canal Connection for the first time – her first race longer than 5K – and did very well. And she always has a word of encouragement and/or a good laugh to share with her fellow runners.

Andy Williams

Andy ran Cross Country in high school. His coach made him write sentences because he was such an unmotivated runner. But don't look now Coach! Andy can't be stopped!

In 2008 he started running again. He completed 7 races.

In 2009, he completed 27 races including 7 top ten overall finishes AND 12 top five finishes in his age group!! And don't forget, 13 of those races were Circuit events. What a busy boy!

3 of his most notable accomplishments in 2009 include:

• taking 7 minutes off his Park 2 Park time
• taking 30 minutes off his Mahomet 1/2 marathon time
• taking over 3 minutes off his Jingle Bell time

Andy's accomplishments this year are outstanding. He has worked very hard and become a very competitive runner. And he has lost more than 20 lbs while doing so, improving his health and outlook on life. Not only does Andy run his race, but he always comes back out after he finishes and cheers everyone on. I always look forward to seeing him as I round a corner to finish up a race!

Andy is a great runner, a great person and deserves most improved male runner of the year!

Seth Gieson

I’d like to nominate Seth as most improved male runner. His times in all distance improved this year. He even PR’d his last 5k of the year at a Turkey Trot 5k in California. His most notable improvement shows in his Chicago Marathon times.
2009: 3:18:17
2008 – 4:17

Ryan Case

Ryan got off the couch in 2005, started to run competitively in 2006, and joined the Often Running Racing Team in 2007. Ryan has established himself as one of the area’s elite runners the past couple of seasons. Ryan ran every day of the year in 2009. He competed in twenty-three races, placing in thirteen and winning two. He set personal records in nine distances. Some of his improvements included 12 seconds in the mile (4:51 to 4:39), 2 minutes and 24 seconds in the 15K, 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the half marathon (1:20:52 to 1:18:28) and an amazing 17 minutes in the marathon (3:08 to 2:51). This amazing amount of improvement at his competitive level is simply jaw dropping. Ryan is very supportive of other runners and has been a great influence to our running community.

John Kastigar

John really did so much for the club this year and his top position in the volunteer point totals reflects that. John has consistently been a very active LRC volunteer, being one of the top three in the volunteer points for the last three years. In addition to taking on web site duties, John also took over the marathon training program, coach for the CTW program, and works several races per year, being versatile enough to be either the software coordinator or finish line coordinator. Listed below are the 1,305 points that have been credited so far:

John Kastigar	100	Web Site (Area Races)
John Kastigar	100	Software Coordinator	St. Pats
John Kastigar	20	Finish Line Crew	Tremont 5K
John Kastigar	100	Finish Line Coordinator	Light the Road 5K
John Kastigar	100	Committee Member	Volunteer Committee
John Kastigar	10	Newsletter Article	Oct. - Race Software
John Kastigar	20	Software Crew	Evergreen
John Kastigar	100	Software Coordinator	Town & Gown
John Kastigar	10	Newsletter Article	May-Marathon Train.
John Kastigar	100	Finish Line Coordinator	U Otter Run 5K
John Kastigar	200	Web Site (Overall)
John Kastigar	20	Race Registration Crew	CTW Registration
John Kastigar	100	Software Coordinator	Miller Park
John Kastigar	100	Software Coordinator	Dog Days
John Kastigar	175	Marathon Training Coordinator
John Kastigar	50	CTW Coach

Bill Hahm

He is everywhere-whether co-running CTW, running finish lines, recruiting volunteers (it's hard to turn him down) and occasionally getting in a race himself. He always has a smile on his face, dry wit and a huge supporter of the success of LRC. He must have an understanding wife.

Meg and Merlin Anderson

For all they do for the ABC Runs and opening their home to the Tuesday night runs.

Bob & Vicki King

Bob & Vicki are unsung heroes of the LRC. We take our newsletter for granted, but Bob & Vicki spends hours and hours and hours each month putting it together for us.

Mitch Hobbs

From being the Shoe Guy, to Board Member to handling finish lines, Mitch is always out there.

George Brown

Ran 63 marathons, and has never won a trophy. In his 64th marathon at Boise, ID, he finally placed 2nd in his age group. This was his last marathon to complete a marathon in every state & DC.

Donna Creditor

Donna was the only woman in the State of Illinois to complete the Illinois Trail Ultra Grand Slam in 2009.

The Grand Slam Performance includes:

Clinton Lake Ultra 30 mile. March 2009

McNaughton Ultra 100 mile. (yes 100 miles! ) April 2009

Rockcut Hobo Ultra 50k. September 2009

Farmdale Ultra Trail 32 mile. October 2009

One word that describes Donna is tenacity - the main ingredient needed to train for and compete in Ultra Trail Races.

Throw in a marathon through Springdale Cemetery, a couple of half marathons and a couple of more ultra distances for good measure along with hundreds of hours and hundreds of miles to train in between.

AND volunteering and becoming a team leader for LRC Catch The Wave. AND volunteering for the LRC's Marathon Training program for the third year in a row.

Seanan AlYasiri

In June, Seanan was the 3rd overall finisher of the Machu Picchu Marathon held in the Andes Mountains of Peru. The course traversed the treacherous stone paved Inca Trail which varies in elevations of 7,700 feet to 14,200 feet. Although he became injured during the race, he continued and completed the race in 6 hours and 47 minutes. Only 4 runners broke the 7 hour milestone. This race was the pinnacle of 4 marathons he ran in 4 consecutive months. He is still battling injuries from this effort and looking forward to more extreme adventures.

Dick Luedke

The radio voice of the Illinois State basketball and football teams won his age group at the St. Louis Marathon last April just 10 months after he was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, a life-threatening infection. Obviously he survived!

Ron Schweinberg

Ron is a Unit 5 teacher and all around great guy. He was having many years of problems running....with lots of pain in his leg, etc. He has been an avid runner all of his life, so it was very hard for Ron not to run. At first he was diagnosed with a back problems and underwent some therapy and treatment to no avail. Finally it was determined after many missed running seasons that Ron needed a hip replacement! So in his early 50's Ron underwent a total hip replacement with his doctor telling him coming back to running may be iffy....Well here are some of Ron's race results in 2009:

Miller Park 5k-21:52
St. Pats 5k-21:14
Dog Days-21:10
Jingle Bells-21:32

Pretty impressive for a guy with an artificial hip.

Ron's doctor is very proud of him as are the rest of us who know him and his determination. Recently Ron's son in law signed him up for an adventure race! Ron is an inspiration to the true spirit of "Comeback".

Celestia Kenerley

Last year’s 5K times were disappointing, but were steadily improving with each run. A groin injury from Fall 2007 plagued me most of 2008. She was able to hit the ground “running” so to speak this year. She improved her Springfield half Marathon time by 10 minutes over 2007’s numbers. She started off with a 26:35 for the Miller Park Zoo 5K and was able to improve to a 24:55 for the Tremont 5K-a PR for her for that race! She has been hovering right around 25:15 for the fall 5Ks which is a full 2 minutes faster than last year’s fall races.

Curt Lowry

I have really been impressed by Curt’s drive to come back from back surgery. The man has been making impressive strides and so positive, nothing keeps him down!

He had surgery November 2008, spinal fusion; Less than 3 months later, he was leading the CTW walking wounded group. Then he hiked part of the McNaughton 50 mile Trail Ultra, and ran/walked races in between. Coming back from a running injury or just being away from running for a while pales in comparison to what Curt has managed to do. He’s back at it now, running consistently and getting back to his old pace.

Nigel Keen

In 2008, Nigel could not finish the St Patrick’s Day 5K due to developing heart problems. This was the first race he DNF’d in his very long running career. He had heart surgeries in April and June of 2008. In 2009, Nigel competed in 32 races, placing in 25. He won his age group in 14 of those with 2 overall victories. Nigel was a group leader in Ride The Wave and led the Wednesday night track workouts.