A Team is Born
When Karen Cox and I met in 1979, our interest was primarily in supporting one another in our efforts to run faster races and make a mark on the Bay Area racing community. We had no idea what would result. We began training together twice, sometimes three times a week, along with a couple of other women and with the help of a coach, Jim Scannell. The first goal was to run a sub-three hour marathon at the first Oakland Marathon. We both met that goal comfortably, finishing 3rd and 4th among women in 2:57:/:58. At that point, we decided the time was right to make regular coached training available to other women with similar goals. Coaching of this type was not easy to come by in the early 80's! We decided on an all women's team-- unique at that time-- wanting to focus on the competitive side of running more than the social.
Karen chose the name Impala because it symbolized sleek, graceful speed-- a statement of what we wanted to become as a group. The Impalas became an official PA-AAU (now USATF) team in January of 1980 and has been a force in Northern California ever since.
- Sue Johnston, Co-Founder
