Good day, runners! We hope you’ve benefited from and enjoyed the community, camaraderie, and competition of FLRC’s races, teams, group runs, workouts, and events in 2023. Now we need your help to make 2024 even better.
Our bylaws require us to hold an election late in the year for next year’s board of directors. We are once again making the election part of a survey to learn more about what you think about running and FLRC and how we can improve.
Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey by the end of the day on December 13th. To encourage you to complete it, we’ll be selecting three respondents at random to receive free entry to all FLRC races in 2024 (except Finger Lakes 50s), a $250 value. (Drawing rules here.)
The proposed slate of new directors to serve a 3-year term is:
- Rich Bernstein: A long-time fixture in the running community, Rich served as the Ithaca High School track and cross-country coach for decades, capping off his career with several years of coaching cross-country for TC3. He has also coached the junior track and field team for the United States at the Maccabiah World Games in Israel and served as a track & field official.
- Jesse Koennecke: Jesse works in acquisitions and licensing at Cornell University Library, is one of the key members of FLRC’s Timing Team, and captains the High Noon men’s Vets team in the PGXC series.
- Rebecca Lovenheim: Long a member of the scholastic coaching community, even after her own racing career came to an end, Becca most recently served for eight years as the head cross country and outdoor track coach at Lansing High School. She is a NYSPHSAA cross-country coordinator for Section IV and will join the Ithaca High School track coaching staff this spring.
- Kate McCormick: A graduate student at Cornell in Psychology, Kate also ran cross-country and track while an undergraduate at Cornell. She coaches the young kids during FLRC’s indoor MITHACAL MILERS workouts at Barton Hall.
If elected, they will join these returning board members:
- Adam Engst (President): Adam times races, coaches FLRC’s evening workouts, captains the High Noon cross-country team, wrangles FLRC’s tech, coordinates the FLRC Challenge, and directs the club’s track meets, the Hartshorne Masters Mile, and the Skunk Cabbage Classic.
- Heather Cobb (Executive Vice President): Ultramarathoner Heather Cobb coordinates FLRC’s regular group runs, is a stalwart on the Communications Team, and tirelessly advocates for runners of all paces on various other board committees.
- Charlie Fay (Treasurer): Along with the essential job of managing FLRC’s finances, Charlie designs and coordinates FLRC’s local PGXC race each season and is assistant director for the Hartshorne Masters Mile.
- Diana Hackett (Secretary): Diana is a librarian at Cornell, helps out on the Communication Team, and has lofty dreams of running an ultra this summer…
- Amy Dawson: An educator in Trumansburg who also makes custom cakes for Emoticakes, Amy was one of the top runners in the 2022 FLRC Challenge and helped design the course signs for Turkey Trot.
- Scott Dawson: Scott works remotely as a user experience designer; he was third in the 2022 FLRC Challenge Most Miles competition and also helped design the course signs for Turkey Trot.
- Tonya Engst: Tonya captains the FLRC cross-country team, chairs the Communications Team, and provides a sounding board for all of Adam’s crazy ideas.
- Ian Golden: One of the best-known figures in the local running scene, Ian is the owner of the Finger Lakes Running Company, coach of Ithaca High School’s track and cross-country teams, and director of races for Red Newt Racing—his experience informs many of the club’s Race Committee decisions.
- Bethany Schiller: Beloved by local kid runners, Bethany coaches the Ithaca Youth Bureau’s track and cross-country programs while working at Cornell and the Hangar Theatre, and training for her own races.
- Jeney Wierman: Along with helping out on the Communication Team, Jeney has taken over as race director (with her husband, Adam Moody) for Finger Lakes 50s in 2024.
Thanks to all of them for volunteering their time and expertise, and thanks to you for being a part of our running community and filling out the survey!