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The Tuscaloosa Track Club recently celebrated the season that was, holding its annual Grand Prix of West Alabama Awards Banquet on January 25.
The biggest winners were Tammy Denson and Roy Meeks who took the top honors for Overall Female and Overall Male. In the final standings for the Grand Prix Overall Female award, Amy Halladay finished second and Christie Ison finished third. Eric Snow finished second and Drew Dickerson third in the Overall Male standings.
The Grand Prix winners are determined by a points system that includes participation in designated Grand Prix races as well as volunteerism. Membership in the Tuscaloosa Track Club is also a requirement.
It was a busy year for the club in 2017 and also one in which membership grew and, already in 2018, continues to grow.
“We ended 2017 with 287 members in the club,” said Denson, the club’s president. “We contracted workers for 34 races, and 19 of those were Grand Prix races where the points for the standings and these awards came from. We help out with so many events, bringing the clocks, tabulating the finishes and all kinds of other things. Generally, every Saturday of the year, there’s a race. This past year we even had a few Friday night events and some on Sundays.”
The races, including some of the Grand Prix events, take place all over West Alabama.
Membership is growing, an increase Denson attributes to people wanting to live healthier lifestyles. Although people can join at any time, the main membership drive for 2018 won’t even be until late November when the club hosts its annual signup event, the Turkey Trot, but already, by the end of January, there were 308 members, nearly two dozen more than at the end of 2017. And the year is just starting.
“I think the main reason we’re seeing more people join is that the community wants to be healthy,” said Denson. “But I also think it’s because we call our group family. A lot of people have made lifelong friends just by joining the club.”
Some of the most popular races have been the Hospice of West Alabama 5K Run/Walk which drew more than 250 finishers last March. Denson said the 5K for Kenya, Doctor’s Day 10K and the Humane Society’s Canine Classic have also traditionally been among the most popular races.
New to the schedule this year will be The Miracle League Run for the Diamond 5K on March 3. That race is not a designated Grand Prix event. The first of those designated races was the Roarin’ Run 5K which was held this past Saturday, Feb. 3.
Membership to the club is $20 for a single individual or $25 for a family. Applications are available on the club’s website, Tuscaloosatrackclub.com.
“One of the benefits of membership is the annual banquet where we honor the Grand Prix winners. It’s free, and we usually have a summer get together,” Denson said. “Joining the club is special because it is a family. We share a common interest. There are group runs. There are groups that get together to do things like train for the half marathon and other things as well. There’s a group of us who are doing a relay on February 11 at the Mercedes Marathon. There are members who get together and train together to compete in marathons all over the country. If you’re a runner, there are so many benefits to joining this club.”
2017 Grand Prix Awards
Overall Female
1st: Tammy Denson
2nd: Amy Halladay
3rd: Christie Ison
Overall Male
1st: Roy Meeks
2nd: Eric Snow
3rd: Drew Dickerson
Masters-Female
Jenelle Marsh
Masters-Male
Jim Chesnutt
Grand Masters- Female
Robin Largin
Grand Masters-Male
Alvin Niuh
9 & Under
Kathryn Kaylor
10-14
Nickalos Traylor
20-24
Kayla Cowans
25-29
Tyler Smoot
30-34 Female
1st: Sara Kaylor
2nd: Jenni Miesse
30-34 Male
Grant Huddleston
35-39 Female
1st: Kristy Brown
2nd: Terri Huddleston
3rd: Kourtney Taylor
35-39 Male
1st: Jonathan Fuller
2nd: Anthony Estes
40-44 Female
1st: Michelle Wisener
2nd: Cathy Skinner
3rd: Amy Ellis
40-44 Male
Scott Peters
45-49 Female
1st: Amy Philpot
2nd: Tammy Thomas
45-59 Male
1st: Phil Gruwell
2nd: Mike Gray
3rd: Randall Grammer
50-54 Female
Andrea Hirst
50-56 Male
1st: Rick Nickoles
2nd: Glenn Dodd
3rd: John Osment
55-59 Female
1st: Deanna Steele
2nd: Judy Ransom
3rd: Laura Arizumi
55-59 Male
1st: Stephen Secor
2nd: Charles Nichols
3rd: Richard Carroll
60-64 Female
Marilyn Archibald
60-64 Male
Sedell Bullard
65-69
Koji Arizumi
70 and Over
1st: Richard Snow
2nd: Phillip Crunk
Volunteers of the Year
Christie Ison
Stephen Secor
Behind the Scenes Award
Steve Nelko
Wagner’s Cross Country Runners of the Year
Female
Becca Billman, American Christian Academy
Male
Tanner King, Northside
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