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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

2013 Annual Club Meeting Information

I wanted to give you all some information before our annual club meeting on Sunday 12/1. Perhaps we should have done this sooner, but it is a busy time of year.

Our history
The Tryon Running Club first started in 2009 with a small group of friends that wanted to find other people to share their love of running with. We met informally and connected via Facebook.

In 2012 we decided to become more than just a Facebook page and become a "real" club.  As a result we join the Road Runners Club of America to benefit from the group insurance and to obtain non-profit designation under 501 ( c) 3 under the Internal Revenue Code.  To afford to do this we began taking membership dues of $12 for single membership and $20 family membership. Currently we have 34 dues-paying members. All of the dues go towards our yearly RRCA fee. 

Our mission
The motto for our club is "Giving back one step at a time." We want to run, meet people and give back to the community we all love.  One of our goals is to sponsor races to raise money for local charities. Last year and this year we held the "Tryon Half Marathon" to help support The Thermal Belt Outreach Ministry. We also continue to support The Jingle Bell Jog for the Hungry. This year we have also taken on The Race to the Head of the Class for scholarship funds. 

Our future
Sunday we will be meeting to discuss the future of our club. We will continue to support these local races, and many more. Opportunities abound in our community.... we have other, non-running events that need support, Tour de Leaves and Jerry's Baddle to name two. We will continue to do good, but we need more help. As mentioned above, we have 34 paying members, but we have 228 Facebook likes. On any given weekend when we post social runs we rarely have anyone show up other than the board members. 

The board members meet regularly and ponder ways to get people more involved. We want to create a social environment for people to connect. It just doesn't seem to be working out that way. We feel like we need to offer thing for our club members but with limited funds and involvement it is difficult.

There are responsibilities to being on a non-profit board and anyone getting involved should be aware of these - you can read about them on the RRCA website.

The current board has served for two years and are ready to hand over the reigns. We need dedicated people to step up and take over the leadership of the club. The new officers will be given support during the transition period and will be handed over documentation and financials to make sure operations continue to run smoothly. If you are interested, please make sure you come Sunday to throw your hat in the ring.

Please give this some thought and feel free to offer feedback. We are all just regular people trying to do good things.

Thank you for your support. We are looking forward to seeing you Sunday, 12/1/13.

Date: 12/1/13
Time: 5:00-6:00 business meeting, 6:00 - 8:00 social
Place: Thompson Garden Gallery
83 Palmer Rd, Tryon, NC












Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Race season still going strong!

While many athletes are now moving into "off-season", many of us in the Tryon Running Club are gearing up for two more races! We have one more event in November and our final event in December.

On November 30th, we have the Jingle Bell Jog for the Hungry. The race fee for this event is a donation of non-perishable food items. The food will be given to Saluda Elementary School.  You can also join us on the Jingle Bell Jog Facebook page

What is not mentioned on the main race site is the great atmosphere at the race. Runners come decked out in their holiday costumes and run around the town of Landrum, SC. Afterwards we also have homemade cookies and other treats, hot coffee and door prizes.

On December 14th, we have The Race to the Head of the Class. This is the inaugural year for this race with a 1K fun run, 5K and 10K distance through the heart of Tryon, NC. This is race is directed by a dedicated group of runners who love the area and are passionate about their cause. They also have the support of the same group of people that cooked the breakfast for the Tryon Half Marathon... need I say more? You can also visit them on the Holy Cross website for more info.

I hope you can join us for one or both of our events - both races are charities for good causes so the more runners the more we can more towards are mission of "Giving Back One Step at a Time".

We would love to show you a good run and feed you some good food.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

2013 Tryon Half Marathon - THANK YOU!

The 2nd Annual Tryon Half Marathon was a huge success! Once again our hopes were greatly exceeded and 266 runners crossed the finish line!



We have been working hard all year to bring our runners the best experience we could... although, we did not need much help. With a course like ours and post-run breakfast prepared with love by some great cooks, we really didn't have to work that hard!

Many of us were out in the early morning setting up the course in the dark, making sure arrows were pointing in the right direction and that there were plenty of cups and drinks stocked at each station. Dozens of volunteers lined the course for hours making sure the runners were taken care of.

The runners came from all across the county - 14 different states, including the Carolinas. People traveled as far as Washington, Utah and New Mexico. Many were here for other reasons, but found a way to fit our race into their schedules. Our local runners, friends and neighbors showed them some Southern hospitality. People were raving at not only the course and food, but the friendliness of all involved.

We had the support of wonderful public servants: the Polk County Sherrif's Department, EMS and the Polk County Veterans. Thank you to all the men and women who made sure we were safe today!

The best part of all was hearing from Thermal Belt Outreach Ministry's Execute Director, Carol Newton. She gave us a heart-felt THANK YOU for helping Outreach help families in crisis. Our support means a lot to the community and we are so grateful we can help.

The race could not be possible without the help of ALL of our sponsors. Please continue to support these community businesses!

Ultra
Wells Fargo

Endurance
Tryon Federal

Tempo
Damian Hall
Tryon Daily Bulletin
Express IT Printing
Form Fitness and Function
Sierra Nevada

Sprint
Nature’s Storehouse
Macon Bank
Puurfect Bark
Millard & Company
La Bouteille
Carolina Chiropractic Plus


Follow this link for our 2013 race results!

Check out some great photos from Pictures with Attitude.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tryon Half Marathon - Race Day 2013!

Hello runners! Thank you to all the people who have already registered for the Tryon Half Marathon! We are going to have a huge crowd! A couple of things I want to mention:


Getting to Harmon Field:

The address for Harmon Field is:
272 Harmon Field Rd.
Tryon, NC
If you use Google Maps or Garmin or any other GPS this address should get you to us with no problem.


Registration:- If you have not already signed up, but are planning to, please note that online registration ends on Wednesday 11/13 at 11:59PM. Please get your entries in now to get the $40 registration fee.- If you wait to register after that it goes up to $50! 

Late registration is permitted on Friday from 4:00PM-7:00PM and Saturday from 6:30AM - 7:15AM but you are not guaranteed a race shirt. Registration will close promptly at 7:15 to ensure we start on time. The timing company needs time to log all the runners in the system.

Packet Pick-up:It would be awesome if you are local or staying in town for the race if you could come get your race number on Friday 11/15 from 4:00PM to 7:00PM at the Harmon Field cabin. Not only will it make race morning a lot easier but we will have some refreshments and BEER! Sierra Nevada will be on site with some brew for our runners and volunteers!

There will be packet-up up race day from 6:30AM - 7:15AM. We have to make sure that the race starts on time so we cannot be late with pick-up. 

 Course Logistics:
This race is not certified but we have made every attempt to ensure the mileage is accurate.


We will have water stops at roughly every two miles. Because it is an out and back course we will try to use the same stations coming and going.


There will be two port-a-poties at roughly miles 5 and 8 (again, at the same point on the road coming and going). These will be at the intersection of River Rd and Morgan Chapel Rd.

We will have course monitors along key points on the route. There will also be EMS stationed at River Rd and Morgan Chapel and also someone either riding a bike or ATV along the course.  Police will be on hand when we are on HWY 108.


Post-Race Food:
We are so happy to have continued support from some wonderful cooks! We will have homemade muffins, breakfast casseroles, fruit and coffee for all of our runners. This breakfast is made with love and we hope you enjoy!

Award Ceremony:
While the course is open until 11:30, we will be doing the awards ceremony at 11:00. Everyone will get an official time and if any runners come in after 11:00 win awards we will present them accordingly.



Awards

Male/Female Overall top 3
Masters Male/Female Overall top 3
1-19 M/F top 2
20-24 M/F top 2
25-29 M/F top 2
30-34 M/F top 2
35-39 M/F top 2
40-44 M/F top 2
45-49 M/F top 2
50-54 M/F top 2
55-59 M/F top 2
60-64 M/F top 2
65-69 M/F top 2
70-99 M/F top 2
 



Thank you all for your support. This race keeps getting bigger each year and we are very grateful. The more runners, the more money we can give to Thermal Belt Outreach Ministries