April newsletter (click to read)

Hi Rockets: We had a very productive April meeting.....

Upcoming Races- details on all races can be found on line at sirunning, NYCRUNS, NYRR, & USAFTNJ

4/15 – Saturday – 10AM-Wolfe’s Run, 10K Wolfe Pond Park SI NY

4/16 - Sunday – NYC Runs – ½ Marathon & 5K at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flushing NY

4/22 – Saturday – NYC Runs 5K & 10K Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY

4/22 - Earth Day – 5K Liberty State Park, Jersey City

4/23 - Sunday – NYRR -4 mile Run as One, Central Park 8:30AM

4/23 - Sunday - 10AM - Matt’s Race-5K Clove Lake Park

4/29 - Saturday – 9AM -High Rock Challenge- Greenbelt

4/29 - Saturday – NYC Runs Verrazano ½ marathon, Shore Road Park Pier, Bklyn NY

4/30 – Sunday- NYRR ½ Marathon SHAPE – Central Park, NY

5/6 – Newport 10K Newport Town – Jersey City

5/13 - Saturday - 9AM – Cesar Sanchez Tribute Run – FDR Boardwalk

5/14 - Sunday - 9:30AM - Spring Meltdown – Fresh Kills Park

5/20 - Saturday – 9AM - 5K - Arnold Obey Armed Forces Day -Clove Lake Park

5/20 – Saturday – 5K – Pride Fest – Snug Harbor

5/20 - Saturday - Brooklyn Half – NYRR – Coney Island, Bklyn

5/20 - Summit 4 miles. Summit NJ

Weekly Races:

Every Saturday – 9AM - SIAC 3 mile fun run - Clove Lake Park

Every Sunday - 9AM- NYRR-Conference House 3 mile run

Every Tuesday 7PM – NYRR – Silver Lake Park 3 Mile Run

Every Tuesday 6PM - Jimmy’s Old School Rocket Run-5 miles

Guest Speaker: Bobby Moore from SI Mid Island Rotary came to promote the Spring Meltdown at Fresh Kills Park on 5/14. All proceeds go to support local non-profit organizations throughout Staten Island. Please make every effort to support this fundraiser that helps our home community. We voted and will be donating $100.00 to this important fundraiser.

We also voted to donate to “Team with a Vision” to show support to our own John Chan and his fellow Rockets guides who will be running the Boston Marathon this month!

Brooklyn Half - Tommy’s Yellow Bus…Pick up@Clove Lake Park @5AM to the Start in Bklyn, then pick up at the finish to take you back to Staten Island. $25.00 check sent directly to Tommy Hart at 81 Beechwood Place, SI, NY 10314 will guarantee you a seat. Limited seating!

By-Laws – The By-laws presented at our February meeting were voted on at this meeting and have been passed. If anyone would like a copy of the by-laws please reach out to me and I will forward you a copy.

Car Magnets and Phone Wallets - $5.00 each. They make great gifts and remember all profits go to our Scholarship Fund. Also a great way to promote our running club!

Incentives to get more Rockets to show up at meetings and local races: Great Idea from Andrea/VP

For every mthly meeting that you attend you will earn 1 point. (beginning with our April meeting)

For every local race you run as a Richmond Rocket, wearing your Rocket apparel, you will earn 2 points.

For every race that you finish first in your age group you will earn 5 points.

For every race that you finish second in your age group you will earn 4 points.

For every race that you finish third in your age group you will earn 3 points.

For every race that you finish first overall in your gender group you will earn 10 points.

Once you have earned 35 points, our team will pay for one entry to your next race (up to $30.00).

We will keep track of all race results and take attendance at each meeting. We will start with local races on Staten Island beginning in April. Remember, you must be registered as a Richmond Rocket and wear your Rocket apparel. We might branch off to include races outside of SI at a later date. Go Rockets!

Rockets Apparel for sale: Jimmy will have on hand at every meeting a selection of Rocket apparel for you to purchase: Pricing: Singlet $25.00, Dry-Fit Tee $15.00, Long Sleeve Dry Fit Tee $25.00, Sweatshirt $25.00. Special: Short Sleeve Dry fit and Long Sleeve Dry fit for $35.00

Remember…wear your Richmond Apparel and earn points!

Post your workouts -Rockets, Running is our private facebook page, and Richmond Rockets is our public facebook page. Include when you are heading out for your run, where you are meeting, approx mileage, and approx pace. It is always more fun to run with friends and safer in numbers.

Website/Scoring equipment. John Chan is looking into updating our present RUNSCORE software ($50.00) and the hard drive on the computer. Also looking into pricing of new software and equipment, like MYLAP, for scoring races but very expensive investment (approx. $6400.) We can rent, but might not be worth it. We do depend on scoring of races to help support our scholarship fund. We presently have two guaranteed races in Brooklyn from our dear friend Cosme, and our Halloween Race, so we feel this is something we should definitely continue. If not, we must find a replacement fundraiser so we can continue to award scholarships each year. Also, looking into a free website to replace our Old Yahoo website, that we are paying for each month. Anyone that can assist John, please reach out to us. Thank you.

Scholarships: This year we received 13 scholarship applications. The scholarship committee met on March 30, hosted by Andrea Dorman, and three winners were selected: Tullis Gardner, MaryKate Drennan & Ariella Garcia. We will invite the winners and their family to our May Meeting. So PLEASE mark your calendars and come to congratulate our winners at our May 1st meeting! Cake will be served!

Runner of the month-. This month we had two nominations. Michael & Cheryl Bergeron on completing the Puerto Rico Iron Man on March 22nd and bringing home 1st place in their team division. Also nominated was Brigid Howley who completed the Forest Avenue Mile in 6:49, placing 3rd in her age group. Congratulations to you all! Please submit your nominations before our monthly meeting and remember it doesn’t always have to the runner that ran a PR or that ran the longest distant, it could be a new runner that is giving it all they got and would appreciate the vote of confidence by being our Runner of the Month.

Birthday Celebrations: No Birthday celebrations in the month of April (or none that we knew about) Having a birthday in May? Please let me know. We would love wish you a Happy Birthday at our May meeting and in our May newsletter.

50/50 - Congratulations to Bozena our lucky winner this month!

Next Meeting: May 1st- Mark your calendar, earn a point, & congratulate our scholarship winners!

Last but not least, please keep John Leide in your thoughts and prayers as he will be undergoing bypass heart surgery this week to correct a major blockage. John is at SIUH-North Room 103 if anyone wishes to visit him. God bless you John, we will all be praying for a successful surgery and speedy recovery!