NYRR Club Night 2007 Celebrates the Best of NYC Running

The top performers at New York Road Runners races throughout 2006 were honored and feted during NYRR Club Night at the Hilton New York on Thursday, March 1. These athletes, along with their teammates, coaches, friends, fans, and many others who support them in doing what they do best, joined together in an evening of merrymaking that has been an NYRR tradition for nearly 30 years.

 

If Club Night carries an overall message, it is this: Running at the highest level in NYC is no ordinary accomplishment. “Our post-collegiate running community is the best in the world, bar none,” said NYRR president and CEO Mary Wittenberg when kicking off the awards presentations. “We’ve got a great scene and it’s all about you.” The 800 attendees, decked out in elegant evening wear rather than their customary singlets and shorts, cheered in agreement.

 

Wittenberg, along with co-hosts Ian Brooks of NYRR and WABC Channel 7 meteorologist Heidi Jones, presented Runner of the Year awards to individuals in 16 age divisions, as well as to running teams in nine categories. Also honored were philanthropist, real estate manager, and longtime ING New York City Marathon supporter Jack Rudin, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award; New York City Department of Transportation commissioner Iris Weinshall, who won the Award for Dedication to Running in New York City; Dr. Howard I. Scher and William J. Mills III, who took home the Fred’s Team Award recognizing outstanding support of cancer research; and others. (Click here for a complete list of award winners.)

 

The evening’s highest honors, the Fred Lebow Runner of the Year Awards for the top individual male and female performers, went to Claudia Camargo of West Side Runners and Demesse Tefera of the Westchester Track Club. Named for the late NYRR president and New York City Marathon co-founder Fred Lebow, the award recognizes “consistently superior performances and skills over a variety of distances and races.”

 

“These athletes are big deals,” said Wittenberg before calling Camargo and Tefera to the stage, where they received standing ovations. “To win these awards in New York City you must be an international-class athlete—and these are international-class athletes.”

 

Camargo, 35, of Danbury, CT, is a native of Argentina who has won national championships on the track and holds that country’s 5K record. Last year she placed sixth at the inaugural NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE in 1:13:39, one of the fastest times ever by a local woman runner. Camargo topped that with a 2:35:04 PR (13th place) at the ING New York City Marathon.

 

Tefera, a 24-year-old Ethiopian who moved to New York last year, placed fifth in a world-class field at the NYC Half in 1:03:17. He won four other NYRR races, including the Team Championships 5M in 23:49 and the Joe Kleinerman 10K in 29:48.

 

Age-group Runners of the Year, who must be members of NYRR, are nominated by an awards committee based on their performances in at least six NYRR races. The winners are then selected based on their year’s best races, with special consideration for head-to-head competition and performances across a range of distances. All nominees are invited to Club Night and wear special identifying medallions throughout the evening.

 

In some age groups, the award winner was no surprise, though the awards committee closely guards its selections in advance of the awards ceremony. “Witold never lost a single race to either Al or myself all year,” said George Hirsch, 72, chairman of the NYRR board of directors, referring to fellow Runner of the Year nominees Alfred Finger and Witold Bialokur, also both 72. “So, well, Al and I sort of knew,” said a smiling Hirsch as the undefeated Bialokur accepted his award. In other categories this year the winner was less clear-cut, leading to several ties. Stephanie Hodge and Lilian Kroner, both 41, shared top honors in the women’s 40-44 division. The two runners embraced on stage and walked off arm in arm, their floral bouquets held high.

 

Runners such as Bialokur and 77-year-old Tohiko D’Elia—who has been a Runner of the Year nominee or winner every year since the first Club Night, in 1980—amazed and inspired other attendees with their achievements and dedication. “They motivate me to keep at it,” said one guest, a former smoker who quit and lost 67 pounds after taking up fitness walking last year.

 

Fittingly, Club Night also serves as a fund-raiser for the NYRR Foundation’s youth running programs, which aim to address the nationwide crisis of childhood obesity by making running a part of every child’s school day. Bidding on raffle items including an all-expenses trip to an international marathon and a pair of racing flats signed by Olympic medalist Deena Kastor, attendees helped raise thousands of dollars.

 

With all the awards presented, the raffle prizes collected, and the congratulations exchanged, celebrants were more than ready to let loose on the dance floor. Reportedly, the last of the revelers continued their workouts well into the early hours of Friday morning.

And many would awaken again just a short time later, logging their training miles and looking ahead to their next day at the races.

 

 

Do a little dance...New York's most dedicated runners and fans danced the night away in style at NYRR Club Night on March 1.