The 15th Annual Silver Strider Awards Party

 

Silver online presents 

 

The 15th Annual Silver Strider Awards Party

 

 

 

By Jerry Dietrich
with photos by Bruce Fisher

1/18/24 – Tacoma 

The 15th Annual Grand Prix Series Party was called to order at noon and the party contributors were introduced. Following introductions the party was adjourned for lunch until 1:00 pm.

The party resumed at 1:00 pm and it was announced that we had four new members joining the Century Club. The Century Club members are those Silver Striders who have finished 100 plus Series races.

The Century Club Chairperson, Kimmer was introduced and thanked for her work on this project. The inductees were, Jim Dollar (posthumously), Bob Davies, Diane Martin and Dennis Zaborac.
 

Next it was reported that the 10k Championship trophies didn’t arrive at the Christmas Rush. I was taken ill the night before the race and unable to transport the awards that morning. some of the champions were present and received their awards. They were:
Rikki Bouge, Women’s 60-64 winner in 54:22
Barbara Prine, Women’s 70-74 winner in 1:10:25
Judy Fisher, Women’s 80-84 winner in 1:15:36
Michael Magnussen, Men’s 55-59 winner in 41:06
Keith Lerew, Men’s 65-69 winner in 45:44
Steve Husko, Men’s 70-74 winner in 53:57

Absent were:
Heidi Kriss, Women’s 50-54 winner in 45:40
Jesse Rodriguez, Women’s 55-59 winner in 47:08
Joy Kawaoka, Women’s 65-69 winner in 1:07:53
Steve Colmus, Men’s 50-54 winner in 41:43
Craig Romano, Men’s Men’s 60-64 winner in 54:41
Curtis Brandon, Men’s 80-84 winner in 1:09:48

This year I wanted to do the achievement awards first. We have two achievement awards. the first goes to the male and female who reached 80 points first.
The first female to reach 80 points was Judy Fisher.
The first male to reach 80 was Jerry Dietrich

The second achievement award went to the male and female who increased their number of finishes finished by the largest margin over last year.
The female with the largest increase was Nancy Larsen who increase her number of races by 10.
The male with the largest increase was Brent White who also increased his number of races by 10.

Next we held our first drawing. There were about 20 prizes in small gift bags.

The winner of the first draw was Keith Lerew who drew a $50 gift Certificate from Fleet Feet Sports. The drawing continued until about half the prizes were given out.

Mr. and Ms. Grand Prix are titles we bestow each year to the male and female who finish the most series races during the year.

Mr. Grand Prix for 2024 is Steve Husko. Steve has won the Mr. Grand Prix title 7 times.
Ms. Grand Prix for 2024 is Judy Fisher. Judy has won Ms. Grand Prix 5 times.

 Judy Fisher and Steve Husko

 

Diane Martin came up with the idea that it would be fun to try and guess the number of series races we had on our schedule during the last 15 years. This would include virtual races during the pandemic. Diane didn’t announce this contest until the party had commenced, so no one knew about it beforehand.

Once again it was Keith (Lucky) Lerew winning the prize, missing by only 7 races. The winning number was 368 and Barbara Prine missed by only 10 races. None of the other guesses were close. Keith guessed 375 and Barbara guessed 378.

Now it was time for the main order of business. The Grand Prix Series winners for 2024. I thought a foreword about our first awards 15 years ago was appropriate. 15 years ago we had our first awards party. We had 11 finishers that year. George Gonzales was Mr. Grand Prix with 13 races. Judy was Ms. Grand Prix with 10.

Three of those original 11 finishers were in the room for this 15th anniversary celebration. They were Larry Larsen, Judy Fisher and myself. Our second year we had 31 finishers and the third year 41. The program continued to grow reaching a high of 46. Covid caused a big setback to our series and we are just now trying to comeback. My goal is to have 50 finishers in 2026 by increasing our profile at races.

I announced that we would start our awards with the oldest female age group and work our way to the youngest. Then we would do the same with the men.

Here is how the awards were presented.

W85-89
1st – Edythe Hulet 

W80-84
1st – Judy Fisher
2nd – Diane Johnson
3rd – Gretchen Ramsdell
4th – Louise Mihay

W75-79
1st – Nancy Larsen
2nd – Diane Martin

W70-74
1st – Patty Husko
2nd – Barbara Prine
3rd – Sandra Madden

W65-69
1st – Mae Elcock
2nd – Geri White
3rd – Tiare Bailey

W60-64
1st – Beverly Luxon

At this point we decided to finish the rest of the drawings.

Then we resumed with the men.

M90-94
1st – Jerry Dietrich

M85-89
1st – Larry Larsen

M80-84
1st – John Phillips
2nd – Bob Davies

M75-79
1st – John Marsteller
2nd – Ray Arrington
3rd – Dennis Zaborac

M70-74
1st – Steve Husko
2nd – Kent Sizer

M65-69
1st – Keith Lerew
2nd – Karl Johnson
3rd – Ken Peper
4th – Mickey Allen

M60-64
1st – Brent White
2nd – Phil Sturholm
3rd – Joe Elcock

M55-59
1st – Michael Magnussen

The party was concluded and everyone was instructed to gather outside the front door breezeway for the group photo.