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Herstory
Coaches
Community
Officers
Awards
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January 2000 got of to a quick and successful start with our annual meeting held at Fort?, where Dawn Eggerts was awarded the much coveted Stockton Cup for her outstanding all around Impala participation as former race director, vice president, Nike rep for our team and excellent racer. Other events in January included the USATF Banquet at which the Impalas were rewarded with a clean sweep fo the Grand Prix Circuit-Open, Masters, Seniors, and Super Seniors, roads and Cross Country!!! We needed a truck to take home all of the hardware.
At the end of the month we were saddened to lose our super Co-Coach Tim Fitzpatrick who assisted Mike so successfully over the last two years.
Since 2000 was an Olympic year, we were proud to send Diana Fitzpatrick, Lisbet Sunshine and Holly Hagerman to the Olympic Marathon Trials in Sough Carolina in February. In spite of unprecedented heat, they persevered and ran excellent races under the Impala blue. A star of another kind emerged by the name of Donna Davis, who underwent serious surgery to donate a kidney to her twin brother.
The end of the first quarter saw the departure of head coach Mike Fanelli, who had coached us so successfully over much of the last decade. We were sad to see him go but our coaching committee, led by Kathi Berman brought us two new coaches to fill the void: Brian McGuire and Jason Karp. Their experience and sound recommendations made for a seamless transition and we were soon training hard with Big Sur in mind. Seventeen Impalas led the charge in Carmel and came home with honors.
In May we again fielded two centipedes for Bay to Breakers and once again narrowly missed beating the dreaded Aggies. Meanwhile some of our triathletes started the season in style competing in the Wildflower and Escape from Alcatraz Triís- Michelle Deasy, Tory Valentine, Kate Sweetman, Ashley Joy, Rachel Sears, Shelagh Sayers, Maggie Fillmore, and Mary Gleason. Seniors, Eve Pell and Jane Coleman proved that age is mostly a state of mind. Eve was inducted into the Dipsea Hall of Fame for her years of outstanding competition, and Jane ran the incomparable Comrades Marathon (87.3 km) in South Africa.
July and August were building months as we worked to prepare for the fall season. It was also a month of volunteering beginning with the water station at the SF Marathon, chaired by Marie Appel, and ending with a volunteer day at the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk, chaired by Peggy Lavelle and her right hand lady, Kate Sweetman.
We continued to do volunteer work at the Peak Hike for Breast Cancer on Mt. Tam in September. We also took some time for fun at a Labor Day Picnic in Marin. This event followed the annual Pac Sun 10k which was chaired by new member, Pam Hayes. It was also the kick off of the Cross Country season and Tia Rosen, organizer, put together a fast and feisty group who led the season opener in winning style. Assistant Coach, Jason Karp bid his farewells to the Impalas in September due to an educational and career opportunity that he could not pass. Although we were sad to have Jason leave sooner than anyone had planned, we were excited about the pool of candidates we had at our fingertips from our recent efforts in hire coaches. The board worked closely with Head Coach Brian McGuire and we excitedly invited Tony Coffey to assist Brian with the Impala force.
By October, our racing efforts indicated that the Impalas were leading the Grand Prix Series in roads and cross country at the Open, Masters and Seniors levels. Highlights of the month were the annual retreat to Humboldt to run the half marathon and a visit ot the team by local Olympic track star, Regina Jacobs.
Winding up the year in November and December found Tory Valentine a Mt. Bike star and Xterra Champion, and Rachel Sears with a trip to France to compete in the Duathelon International Championships. Senior Jessie Stratton ran a marathon a month to celebrate the millennium.
In addition to all the outstanding racing and volunteering this year, pro-active Impalas led the city in efforts to get better lighting and protection of women runners in Golden Gate Park and began work on a project to bring the Olympics to San Francisco in 2012, numerous Impalas helped train new runners to run their first marathon for charities such as breast cancer, and arthritis.
During the year several new women put on the Impala blue; Sara Gigliotti, Pam Hayes, Stephanie Morris, Karen Ribble, and Kathy Collins have been excellent new additions to our team.
Besides all of the above, several Impala women gave birth, bringing new baby Impalas to our great family; Terry Quan, Peggy Lavelle, Cheryl Kruse-Shwe, and Jen O'Reilly proved that Impala women have it all.
Let it not be said that the beginning of a new century caught the Impalas napping.
