Updated March 29, 2004 Editors' note: October 19, 2003 seemed like a good time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Sunday morning Sun Tire training run and we thought it would be appropriate to give our readers an updated history of the Florida Striders Track Club.

In 1978, Jay Alligood of the Continuing Education Department of the Clay County School System decided to hold an October Indian Summer Run. The purpose was to generate an interest in running among the adults of Clay County. Mr. Alligood, with the help of Ken Taylor, Orange Park H.S. Athletic Director and Cross Country/Track Coach, laid out a five-mile course at Gold Head State Park.

A survey was given to participants in the event to see if they were interested in forming a local running club. Ken Taylor coined the name, "Florida Striders" and also designed the club logo.

Chuck Cornett was one of around 20 people who signed up. A club was formed and our first president, Jim Finigan, (now of Cornelius, NC) was elected. Meetings were held in the library of the Lakeside Elementary School and attendance was good to start with, but soon dropped off to only a few attendees.

After several months, our treasury had $67 and we still owed President Finigan the $100 he lent to start up the club! On a Saturday run, several members decided to put on a race to raise money and promote awareness of the Striders. The race was held at sundown at the Orange Park Kennel Club and named the Autumn Twilight Run. It's still in existence as the 5 km Autumn Fitness Run, although it's now a morning race because the OPKC is no longer available in the evenings due to kennel club events. Participation has been as high as 1200 but usually draws about 600 runners and walkers.

The club membership rapidly grew after that event. Our club colors are yellow (gold) singlets with red shorts. The original plans called for blue shorts with the gold singlet because Orange Park is a Blue and Gold NAVY town. However, the local running store had a large stock of red shorts and the price was right! You can spot a Strider in any race of any size!

After the extremely successful Autumn Twilight Run in 1979, it was decided to funnel proceeds back into the club by subsidizing incentives for new members to join the club. Emphasis was put on family memberships with an extremely low fee, which included free running club shirts.

Almost immediately, membership boomed. General club meetings featured talks with the focus on all aspects of running: shoes, equipment, diet, technique, heart safety and fitting walking/jogging into lifestyle, etc. These meetings, often attended by over 100 people, were held at local restaurants with a Dutch treat dinner preceding the talk. Business topics were kept to a minimum and socializing and welcoming newcomers was highlighted. The meetings were held monthly until recently. The attendance had dropped off significantly and the board made a decision to suspend them until a better idea comes along.

In 1982, a morning 10 km race was introduced in the spring to offer a change from the fall’s evening 5 km run. The race was called the Sunrise Wellness Run and also started and finished at the Orange Park Kennel Club. The Orange Park Hospital sponsored this event for several years. In 1986, Dick Erickson of Sun Tire Company offered full sponsorship and the race was renamed Sun Tire Run to the Sun. The distance was changed to 8 km and has been the RRCA State Championship several times in addition to being the 1998 RRCA Southern Region Championship and 2000 RRCA National Championship.

Dick and his wife Diane are long time members of the Striders, having attended one of the first club sponsored EAT SLIM - WALK TRIM, Learn How To Jog and Love It Clinics in 1981. Coach Chuck Cornett started and continues to teach these half-day clinics at various locations around the state. The clinics provided a major source of new members for years. Additionally, Mini Running Camps are held for runners who would like to improve racing times and those desiring to enter marathons or ultra distance events. Chuck is currently living in Gulf Breeze, Florida.

We have always stressed the key to becoming a distance runner is the Long Slow Distance (LSD) run once a week. When the Florida Striders Track Club first started, we all were running this LSD run at different times and from different locations. A group would meet at the Lakeside School and run the 7-mile loop around Moody and Doctor’s Lake Drive. This bunch would run at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and the pace was brisk.

Chuck and several other "slow beginners" decided to meet at the Sun Tire store on Blanding Boulevard, next to the Famous Amos 24 hour Restaurant. We picked a starting time of 6:30 a.m. Sunday to begin running. That early time would allow us to run, eat breakfast and still be home in time to join our families for church.

The first of these runs was on October 13, 1978. Five original Striders took part; Bill Dewey, Roy Fisher, Dave Taylor, Jack Stanley, and Chuck (the latter three later served as Strider Presidents). Since that day in 1978, there has been a group running every Sunday. However, on the memorable morning of the "Great First Coast Freeze”, when there was snow and ice on the course, only Frank Frazier and Jack Sykes showed up. We nearly broke the streak in the early 80's when everyone else had gone down to run the River Run course. However Bill Saye and John TenBroeck showed up at Sun Tire to keep the string going! During marathon training there are as many as 150 runners and walkers taking part in this weekly event.

The Sunday run always starts promptly at 6:30 a.m. and if you arrive at 6:31, we will be gone! The complete route is 20 miles long, however there are various turnoffs to allow for distances of 6, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 17 miles.

In the beginning years, the rule was that no one would run faster than the slowest runner. As the slower runners turned off for shorter mileage, the pace would pick up. This rule ensured socialization and was good training for all. Now days, there are various sub groups ranging from the "FLY & DIE" group on down to the "turtles" All walkers/joggers/runners in the community are welcomed to this event. Membership in the Florida Striders is not necessary!

The club has always been involved in service projects to promote running and fitness in the community. One of our most ambitious projects was providing financial backing and assistance in rebuilding of the Orange Park High School track. It remains one of the best facilities in North Florida.

During the early eighties, the club sponsored twice-monthly Saturday morning 1 & 4-mile fun runs at the OPHS track with Richard and Jenny Allen as the usual hosts. Ribbons were awarded and light refreshments provided. This later evolved into a monthly fun run/social held the second Friday of each month. (It's now just a social and no one runs!)

We also offered weekly Wednesday night track workouts at the OPHS track that were well attended. That has gone by the wayside in favor of a run of 5-10 miles on Kingsley and Doctors Lake Drive. Unfortunately that run has also met its demise.

In the late eighties we sponsored a four-week summer running camp at OPHS for the youth of the community. Through club president India Hendley's persistence, we were fortunate enough to receive a Nike grant through the RRCA to continue this program for several years. The club continues to strongly support and provide financial assistance to schools and youth fitness activities and received and RRCA Southern Region grant to help fund children's running in elementary schools for the 2000 school year.

All of our races have a free fun run that attracts 300-500 youths. Our largest youth event was in 1989 when we had over 1600 kids run the 1-mile Run to the Sun Fun Run! Dick Erickson of Sun Tire gave every kid a free T'shirt and footed the bill for loads of goodies. Ken Bendy directed that event. We have sponsored a Kids Marathon Program that had nearly 300 youths participating.

We have provided free kids RRCA running booklets and published a brochure of local running routes that was distributed to area hotels, motels and fitness outlets. In addition, we championed the building of local 4½ and 7-mile fitness trails and have provided assistance in maintaining the facilities. We used to have 2-3 "Clip n' Sip" workdays to maintain the doctors Lake trail but that too has ended. Robert Shields personally took over the task and kept it in excellent shape, unfortunately he moved to New Mexico in 1998 and the trail has deteriorated considerably. The county has limited funds and resources to maintain it and it continues to deteriorate. In 2003 George Hoskins took on the challenge of maintaining the trail and has been successful in recruiting volunteers to help maintain it.

As evidenced above, the Striders are known for their support of running in the community and received the Reinhold award for "Outstanding Service to Youth & Families" several times since 1996. In the late 1990's we instituted a scholarship program spearheaded by Tom Sullivan that awards $1000 scholarships to outstanding High School Seniors each year.

There were probably occasional newsletters in the early years but the first regular issue of our award-winning newsletter, the "StrideRight" was printed in January 1982 and has always featured articles for, by and about Striders. One of the most popular monthly features was Ken's Racie Ramblin's column. Ken scoured the racing scene to report on all of the trash, trivia, scandal, PR’s, etc., in addition to poking fun at our various adventures (or misadventures). Since Ken's retirement after seventeen years of regular journalistic duties, the concept has been continued by Robert Glenn as "Mile Marker Musings".

Under the stewardship of editor Glenn Becker, the StrideRight was named the RRCA's Southern Region's best newsletter in 1986 and went on to earn the RRCA's Best Small Club Newsletter for 1987. The Newsletter continues to be a top contender for RRCA Journalism Awards and is currently edited by Bob Boyd.

In 1984, we were asked by the city of Green Cove Springs to conduct a 5 km race to help celebrate the Memorial Day Festival. The race was called the Shipshape 5000 and was sponsored by a local bank. It’s now called the Memorial Day 5K and features one of the most scenic, historic courses in Florida. The race draws nearly 500 runners.

Our most "fun" event was the Hog Jog 5 km cross-country event. Beginning in 1988 it was held in conjunction the Ham Jam Festival, a qualifying round for the National BBQ Cook-off. The course director’s map read something like this: start at the turkey pen gate, follow the cow path to the junk cars, cross the grass airfield and follow the dirt lane to the hard road. Take it to the end and follow the dirt road to the left, turn at the end (watch out for the dogs)! Reverse course and turn left at the barn/hangar with the sign "Redneck Airlines". The finish line is at the two trees just past the barn! We usually had about 300 runners and walkers. The awards were always some form of a pig. The race lasted for about 10 years, but in 1998 the club dropped it due to problems with the race location. In 1999 Jane Manion resurrected it as a 3 mile cross country at a new location in Lake Asbury. After the 1-year hiatus its still going strong but the name has changed to the Florida Striders' Cross Country Challenge 3 Mile and has moved to Ronnie VanZant Park in Lake Asbury.

Our club members really support the races in the Orange Park/Jacksonville area and the premier event of the year is the Gate River Run 15 km presented by our good friends in the Jacksonville Track club. Known for our friendly, family oriented functions, in 1992 we decided we needed a central point to meet before and after the race and the Strider Gate River Run Tent was borne! Stan Scarlett, his able assistant Marge Ruebush and a host of other volunteers have shepherded the project to this day. Literally hundreds of members and guests enjoy this activity each year. Capitalizing on the success of the River Run tent, then president, Bill Cornell initiated a similar project for a tent at the Jacksonville Marathon in 1999. Jane Manion and Lillian Lawless have kept this tradition going.

In 2001 Mike Mayse took on the task of bringing the FSTC into the virtual media age by building the Strider's website (www. Floridastriders.com). Mike did an outstanding job, but unfortunately his job took him to Ohio. Our current Webmaster Bill Dunn has been an able replacement and is adding new features to make it even better!

We took a significant step forward in race safety in 2002 when we changed the courses of the Autumn Fitness 5 km and the Sun Tire Run to the Sun 8 km to get them off of US 17. Traffic was becoming increasingly heavy and the town and the club were becoming concerned about liability. Our Orange Park races are now entirely on scenic River Road and the east side of Park Avenue.

Like most clubs, we've had our peaks and valleys. Just a few short years ago we had lost all of our race sponsors, membership had dropped less than 200 and club interest was waning. We were one newsletter payment away from bankruptcy! Fortunately, with the leadership of Wally Lastinger and some hard work by a lot of people, we recovered and just over a three year period went from a small club to nearly 500 memberships. We owe a great deal of this to Dr. Russ Pratt who put the squeeze on all of his friends in the medical profession and in a short time had all of our races sponsored.

Our current membership numbers 400+ and counting family members, the number of people is probably over 700. Our membership covers the full spectrum of runners, walkers, serious competitors, and some that just join to work our events or socialize! We participate in everything from fun runs to ultra marathons. Our Club has fielded a world class Paralympic and Olympic wheelchair athlete (LeAnne Shannon) who joined our club at the age of eight! A few years later another tiny eight year-old girl by the name of Fallon Heffernan joined our club. She set records in the Gate River run 15 km, continues to set records in High School and is presently the number 2 ranked in-line skater in the world! At the other end of the membership spectrum our oldest member was Ed Root who passed away at the age of 91 several years ago from complications of injuries sustained when he fell off his bicycle training for a triathlon!

We celebrate our anniversary on a Sunday morning in October of each year with a run post run celebration from Sun tire. It is funded entirely from the money we find on the roads from the date of the previous year's celebration. Jenny Allen is the custodian of the fund known as "Jenny's Pennies"! We usual find between $150-$200 on the roads!

Bob Boyd, our current president, heads the list of 21 presidents who, along with so many members, past and present have contributed their all to make the Florida Striders Track Club a community icon in running and physical fitness. We invite you to participate in our races or join us for a run in the Orange Park/Jacksonville area!