Welcome to the Stevens Creek Striders website

Stevens Creek Striders' "Last Chance" aid station at the Western States 100 mile race. June 27th, 2009

7/5: Western States Photos.  Thanks to Sue Bush, Gregg Levin, Randy Ison, Rob Larson and Peter Hargreaves for these photos. Here.

6/30: Membership Dues.  Don't forget that memberships run through June 30th so if you haven't renewed, dues are due.  Individual membership STILL only $25.00.  More details are here.

6/30: Yosemite Camping and Hiking.  We have another hiking and camping trip in Yosemite National Park planned this year.  Its on August 20-22.  This time we will conquer mighty Mt. Conness!  Please sign up early if you can so we can reserve another camping site if need be.  Find out more here.  Sign up here. 

6/27: Striders Western States Results:  Here are the finishing times for each of the Striders who entered the Western States 100 this year.  For perspective, 458 people were signed up to run the race this year.  423 started the race and 328 finished in 30 hours or less.  Photos here.

Jean Pommier   21:32:22   52nd overall

Charles Stevens  24:46:03  131st overall

Larry Myers  25:38:20  144th overall

Lina McCain  26:17:52  162 overall  24th woman

Bill Dodson  Dropped at Auburn Lake Trails Station (85.2 miles)

6/23: Board Members.  Meeting Minutes of May 25th posted here.  During the meeting, the make up of next year's Board of Directors was settled. The 7 Striders who will be serving you, the membership, in this important role for 1 year from July 1st are:

Lina McCain, John McKiernan, Larry Myers, Randy Ison, Mike Dhuey, Gene Kiernan, Gregg Levin.  Their responsibilities within the Board will be agreed by them at their first meeting on July 13th.  All members are welcome to attend Board meetings.

5/31: Hey Striders!  Don't those people pictured above look like their having fun in an idyllic setting!  Ah, Wilderness!  If you haven't already signed up, here is your chance to sign up for Last Chance (the aid station at the Western States 100 Mile Race, June 26 and 27).  As usual, several of your loonier fellow Striders will be in the race (to be expected with a full moon).  To help them and cheer them on click  here.

5/23: Congratulations to Peter Baum for his almost perfect estimate (-1 minute) of  his time in the Predictive Race.  His prize is a $20 gift certificate to the Hobees Restaurant of his choice.  Runner up was Johanna Ylanen (+6 minutes), who won one of our widely sought after Striders running shirts.  Race results are listed in the Results section.

5/22: Photos from the May 15th Annual Spring Picnic and  8.9 Mile Predictive Race. Click here.

5/20: Randy Ison's photos of the Quicksilver Aid Station on May 8th. Click here.

5/13:  From the Strider's President:

Don't miss this Saturday, May 15th:  Strider's Summer Picnic & Predictive Run

It gives me great pleasure in reminding you of the social event of the Striders spring season: the Annual Picnic. Your Social event organizer, Penny Beeston has been busily planning the event. And this year your Board has decided to precede it by a Predictive Run. We'll meet as usual at 8.30am in the normal parking lot at Stevens Creek County Park.

For the run, a characterful, charming, changeful and challenging (in places) 8.9 mile course has been logged and mapped out with the aid of Gregg Levin's GPS gadgets. This is not a race but more a test of your good judgment. By studying the map, elevation profile and with your knowledge of the trails, you will decide how long it will take you to run its length. It will start from the usual parking lot and finish nearby at the Chestnut Picnic area. You will run without any timekeeping devices and the runner whose time is nearest to their prediction wins the event and earns a valuable prize: a gift token from one of our local running vendors.

At the finish line you will find that your Board has set up a barbeque and picnic. This year we decided to subsidize the event so Penny has organized Burgers (including a vegetarian variety) and Hot Dogs to be cooked on the hot coals and sodas. And you are invited to bring a dish or snack or drink to share. There will be coolers with ice to keep your pot luck item fresh while we run if needed. Also if you have any garden games do bring them along. Please bring plates and utensils. We expect to wrap up around noon.

Enjoy! See you on Saturday! Peter, for your never chic, cheesy, chintzy nor churlish Board.

4/29: Big Basin PCTR delayed.  Due to park permitting issues, the date of Big Basin Redwoods Trail Run has been postponed one week to Sunday, May 23rd.

4/22: Quicksilver Aid Station, May 8th .  Volunteers needed for the Striders aid station at the Quicksilver 50 mile/50 kilometer/25 kilometer race.  There is a 6:00am to 10:00am shift, a 10:00am to 2:00pm shift, or for the very enthusiastic, you can sign up for both shifts.  The aid station is strategically located so that you can aid and cheer your favorite runner as he or she goes by two or even 3 times during the course of the race.  In between you can gaze out over the beautiful landscape and reservoir before you.  A Quicksilver memorial shirt comparable in beauty to the Western State shirts shown above will be available to volunteers.  Sign up at the Saturday morning meeting or here.  Aid station location and a general area to look for parking are here. 

4/11: American River 50 Mile. The Striders had 7 entrants in this classic 50 mile that runs from Sacramento to Auburn up the course of the river. Cool and cloudy weather made for excellent running conditions. 582 of 622 starters completed.

4/2: Striders Tee Shirts on Sale! We have the following stock of coolmax type unisex running shirts. White with a large Striders logo.  Made by SportHill. Very flattering on the trails! Long sleeve: 1x Medium. Short sleeve: 4x Small, 6x Medium, 2x Large. Their normal price is $25 and $20 respectively but the Board decided we should drop the price by ~25% to clear them.  So they can be yours for $19 (long) and $15 (short sleeved). Contact Peter or buy from the board member doing announcements on Saturdays.       4/2: Trail Maintenance. Thank you to all who turned up for our Trail Maintenance session on March 27th.

We had a good turn out of some 18 Striders and Bob the Ranger from the Stevens Creek County Park.  We really made an impression on the poison oak and the trail is in much better shape as a result of your efforts. Thank you!   Thanks also to Jean Pommier for his work and for his photos. He has a good description of the day on his blog here and many more photos here. Also thanks to Peggy for organizing the maintenance work with the County Park staff.

3/31: March Newsletter added here.

2/21: Congratulations to Jean Pommier for winning his age division in the Pacific Association USATF Ultra Grand Prix.  Three Striders won their age divisions in 2009:  
           Christina Brownson, Jean Pommier and Bill Dodson. 

12/31: Congratulations to the following Striders, winners of the Big L Awards given out at the Holiday Party:
           Athletic Achievement:
          1. Christina Brownson and Bill Dodson for winning their age division for ultra runner of the year (Pacific Track and Field)
          2. Johanna Ylanen for her Silicon Valley Marathon 3rd place
          3. Dennis Connor (first 100 miler in last year and then WS)
          4 John McKiernan (first Boston qualifying marathon time at San Francisco in June; then first 50 miler at Firetrails in October and got a WS qualifying time)
          5. Randy Ison (first marathon at SV marathon).

           Service to the Club:  Bill Jones

           Strider of the Year:  Peter Hargreaves

           Also Awarded at the Holiday Party, the Striders Western States Entry:  to Lina McCain.

12/23: Last Board Meeting Minutes posted. Here.

12/21: Randy Ison's photos of the two Striders teams at the Christmas Relays at Lake Merced on Dec 13th.  Here. 

12/3: Slideshows and Movies of the Thanksgiving Relays. Many thanks to Michael Florence for organizing the relays. And thanks to Tom Kaisersatt and Andrew Johnson for taking the photos. Here.

11/28: Striders entry to the Western States 100.  If you don't get lucky in the Western States lottery and wish to be considered for the Striders entry, make this known to a board member.  Note the criteria listed in the 11/9 update below.

11/28: Website problem affecting Christmas Relays & Big L Awards. Our website hosting company managed to turn off our email service for 2 weeks so we have no idea what emails for these 2 events we have missed. It is now working again.  But if you have already have tried to write to enter the relays or make a nomination please do so again: they will not get counted twice!  Sign up by December 5th else fee increases.

11/28: Big L Awards. Make your nominations before midnight on December 10th. Awards to be made at the Holiday Party.  Nominations closed.

11/23: Newsletters. Carol Borders has just unearthed the missing 1999 year of the annals plus a few more newsletters from the early 90s. So we are pleased to add the scans here.  Thanks Carol. We are still sorting out how to best scan the photos from the last 27 years to keep them for posterity and identify the Striders therein. Newly published: from 1999: Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec,  and more recently: Dec 2001, Mar 2002, Jul 2004, Nov 2009.   Main Newsletter page here.

11/23:  Christmas Relay information and signups:  Sign up by December 5th else fee increases.

11/9: Striders entry to the Western States 100.  As the Striders run one of the aid stations at this annual race, the club is able to nominate a runner each year to participate if they fail to get in by the lottery process. After a commitment in August 2008, after the forest fires forced the cancellation of that year's race, your board invited comments and recently reviewed the selection process. At the last 2 board meetings, after much careful deliberation, it was decided that the system should better recognize service to the Striders as a club. So the following system is now in effect.

After having notified the board of their desire to be considered for the entry having applied and failed to get a place in the race, points will be allotted to contenders on the criteria listed below. The member with the highest number of points will be given the entry. In the event of a tie, the entry would be allotted from a draw from the names of those tying. The entry is not transferable by the winning entrant. If the entrant decides not to enter the race the board would put forward the next highest point applicant and so on.

a) Stevens Creek Striders currently paid up member: 1 point
b) Last Chance aid station worker: 1 point for each of previous 5 years, max 3.
c) Quicksilver aid station worker: 1 point for each of previous 5 years, max 2.
d) Last Change aid station captain: 1 point for each of previous 5 years, max 3. (In addition to Last Chance worker points).
e) Quicksilver aid station captain: 1 point for each of previous 5 years, max 2. (In addition to Quicksilver worker points).
f) Board member: 1 point for each of previous 5 years, max 3.
g) Never won Striders' WS entry, 1 point.

11/9: Board Minutes.  October Minutes added here.

11/1: Board page updated here.

10/12: Board Minutes. September Minutes added here.

10/04:   Holiday Party.  The Holiday Party will be on December 12th at St Edwards Episcopal Church Hall located at 15040 Union Avenue (same place as last year). More details and sign up to follow soon.

10/02:   The Palo Alto Run Club (PARC) invites Striders members to participate in their upcoming Monthly Trail Run at Monte Bello OSP on Sunday October 11. There will be 6-mile and 10-mile run options, followed by a pot-luck. Details are available here

9/27: Carrying on the tradition, Turkey Relays will be run again this year at 8:30 on Thanksgiving Morning. Striders, family and friends invited to participate in this exciting (and jolly) event at DeAnza College track on Thanksgiving morning. As usual, Mike Florence is organizing the event and supplying valuable prizes. No sign up necessary. Just show up and be ready for fun! Photos from last year.

9/26: Montebello & Black Mountain run. Last Saturday the Striders move up the hill to be kindly hosted by Noel and Bill at their Vineyard. Great running on Black Mountain.  Thanks to Randy for these photos.

9/24: August Board Minutes added: here

9/11: Clambake Photos added here.

9/3: Yosemite Weekend. Photo Album added here. 18 Striders and friends had a great weekend on the eastern side of Yosemite. This photo from Bruce and Lina.

8/26: Spring Picnic Photos.  Clearly in the better-late-than-never category, Mike Dhuey's photos of the Picnic are now posted here.

8/25: Big Sur River Run.  Saturday October 24th, 10am. Camp over on Friday night in Pfeiffer State Park. Details here.

7/17: Striders Website Search launched.  27 years of Newsletters scanned.  To the left you will see a new search dialogue which uses a Google custom search engine to just search this website. At the same time we have scanned all the paper newsletters we have going back to 1982: here.  So now the search function can find all references to your target of interest. Normal Google syntax applies, for instance Donald OR Mickey (note the or is capitalized), or Donald AND Mickey. Phrases should be in inverted commas: 'Mickey Mouse'. To exclude words prefix them with a minus sign. For example: Doug OR White -elephant.  You have to put up with occasional Goggle adverts on the results page but that is a small price to pay. We are missing a number of newsletters between 2002 to 2006. So if you have squirreled any away not shown on the newsletters page please let us know. Enjoy the archives!

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Cupertino, California