Buffalo Chips Weekly News Update

10th Annual John Lawson Tamalpa Challenge

A core group of cross country devotees made their way across the bay to the penultimate race in this year’s series. The women were led by Gina Mandy, our most consistent harrier-ette on the trail, with a sizzling time of 28:59. Also running to complete a distaff team were Meghan Schwartz, Meg Svoboda, Carol Parise and Pam Goodley. Representing the Chips on the men’s side were Dennis Scott, Joel Contreras and Bob Venditti.

Mary Coordt Leads Chips at Four Bridges

Finishing 9th overall in 1:21, Mary Coordt led ALL the Herd at this year’s Four Bridges Half-Marathon. With almost 1400 individual finishers and another 49 teams, the race was held under near perfect conditions for racing.

Following closely and leading the male bison was Kal Lowden (1:22) then Erik Skaden (1:23). Dennis Early was 2nd in the 45-49( 1:25) division and Jen Pfiefer was first in her division at 1:26.

Arnold Utterback (1:35) led Ernie Takahashi (1:35) to the line, but it was Ernie with a 2nd in the 60-64 division that got the bragging rights, and John Nichols was right behind Ernie still in the 1:35 zone.

Other Chips quickly noted in the results: Dave Michel, Steve Polansky, James Yee, Chuck Honeycutt, Barbara Elia, Maggie Ward, Tony Alvarez, Gordon Hall, Fred Kaiser, Tom Kuzmich, Ron Hall, Jon Thomas, Cammy Thomas, Stuart Sargisson, and probably MANY others that my quick perusal missed. Congratulations to all finishers and apologies to those I missed.

Lost: A Chips Friend, 1957-2005

Phil Whitehead, Zimbabwe

Very sobering news arrived on Sunday morning as an e-mail from our host club and club director in Zimbabwe informed that PHIL WHITEHEAD, age 48 died (30 Oct.) at the 9km mark of a half-marathon he was running in outside of his home area of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Phil was the organizer of the CHIPS local social with his Bulawayo running club when we visited there in June of 2000 (?). He was an enthusiastic participant in the Comrades Marathon and had many sub 10 hour finishes to his credit. He leaves his wife Sandy and four kids ages 13-23. He will be greatly missed by his clubmates in Bulawayo, and by all of his contacts around the world as he was a conduit for current political news from this strife torn country.

He was an international figure in Rotary, and a corporate managing director of a concrete plant there in Bulawayo and also a director of the Dunlap tire production facility in Zimbabwe. He supported webpages for news, running details, and even the engineering graduates of his nation’s university. His was a life of service, and his passing will be missed in so many venues.

Coming Soon….Clarksburg Country Run, 30k/20 miler, PA-USATF Championship Event for Individuals/Teams

13 November, 2005

Who was Paul Reese?

This year’s Clarksburg event is identified as the “Paul Reese Memorial…”

Paul was the founding race director of the Clarksburg event and for it’s first 15 or so years it was a 20 miler. Originally called the “Pepsi 20,” this was the FIRST long road race in Northern California. It precedes ALL the northern California marathons. Paul personally supported the race through its formative years, and he also started the Lake Tahoe 72 Miler (an ultra-marathon around Lake Tahoe all on roads), and the Sunkist 2 day 100km event. More recently he had hosted and directed a marathon event run ON THE TRACK at American River College and then until his last years a 10k road event. Paul was a founding figure of the Buffalo Chips Running Club, and he was one of the best and toughest 50-59 age group runners to EVER tie on a pair of shoes. He ran in the 2:36 territory as a 55-56 year old, and he turned a low 13 hour 100 miler when he was in his 50’s. In his middle 60’s he organized a group run exploring the Western States 100 Mile course from Squaw Valley to Robinson Flat, and that was the beginning of many “real runners” signing up for “Western.”

In his retirement when he was 70-something, he and George Billingsley ran across the whole United States for a summer “fun run.”

He was a retired Marine Corps Colonel, and he then was a high level administrator with the Sacramento City School District until his second retirement. Paul passed away a couple of years ago, but his legacy of inspiration will never be forgotten.