February:
Destination Race. A group of 6 took a trip to run the Florida Marathon and Half Marathon in Melbourne. A great bonding experience for all and opportunity to support each other.
- To preserve our club’s history, Jill and Ryan met with Stearns History Museum head archivist, Steve Penick. Steve was very interested in our club’s history and stated that we would be a great candidate for a preservation “vault”, which is a preservation box that would house whatever items we felt are relevant to our history. We are starting with two binders full of old newsletters that have been passed from president to president. We will be looking for volunteer(s) to write the history of the club and make suggestion for the vault’s contents.
April:
- The Earth Day Expo was back and featured a River Runners booth coordinated by Deb Bemboom, as always, a great success. Thank you, Deb, and thank you to all who volunteered at our booth!
- We held a celebratory ‘welcome back to group runs’ breakfast at the Ultimate. There was excellent food, door prizes and a surprise for Rick Lind, knowing that Rick would not be able to attend our Annual Banquet, we graced him with the 2021 Memorial Award for his creative efforts to keep our club viable, safe and on track during the pandemic.
- After a year off, we were finally able to hold our annual Banquet at the House of Pizza in Sartell. We had a great turnout with 59 attendees. This was a night of appreciation. Bob Kovell and Pat Ross were recognized and presented trophies. Bob Kovell for his 15+ years as our Treasurer. Pat Ross for his gracious role as our Saturday Morning breakfast run photographer. Jeff Janssen was presented with the 2022 Memorial Award for his many years as a River Runner, and for taking over the role of Race Director for the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon. Tonya Pick graciously accepted the dipstick award for misplacing her keys repeatedly during the summer of 2021. In her defense, she was training for Ironman while working full-time. Look out, will you be the next dipstick? The night featured door prizes, great food and amazing energy as we connected with friends new and old. A big thank you to all who attended!
- At the banquet Pat Ross provided us with a thumb drive with many pictures. This is priceless, thank you Pat! Eventually, a copy will be in the Stearns History Museum archive, but for now, we want to be able to share the pictures with all. Possibly Shutterfly? Any suggestions are welcome.
May:
- The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon was a huge success! We had 196 finishers. This race would not be possible without all the hard work of the Race Director Jeff Janssen, Coordinators, and many volunteers. Thank you to everyone who had a part in this day.
- A group of volunteers met after a breakfast run in May and cleaned up a large section of the Lake Wobegon Trail. Thank you!
- The St Cloud River Runners scholarship program was headed up by Jodi Johnson this year. Thank you, Jodi, for owning the process and preparing the very comprehensive document describing how the program works. The scholarships were awarded to two students at Cathedral and one at Apollo.
June:
Wyoming was the location of another club planned destination race, this time to run the Grand Teton Half Marathon and 5K. The Airbnb was fabulous, we bonded over games of charades, Pictionary and great food and beverages. The scenery? Indescribable!
Miscellaneous updates:
USATF team at Brian Craft 5K
- The USATF team participated in several events, and there are still some upcoming races. We need more men to join! Let us know if you are interested.
- Additional trucker hats were ordered.
- Visors are being designed and ordered.
- As of July, we have 123 registered River Runners!
- We are looking for a new treasurer for 2023 as Andrea’s 2-year term will be up.
- We are looking for a new co-president for 2023 as Jill’s 2-year term will be up.
Best Regards,
Jill and Ryan