Red Rocks Results I

What a great first day of Red Rocks today. We had a good turn-out and here are the results:

Tyler got up 258 stairs, Keagan got up 247 stairs, Josh got up 236 stairs and Katelyn got up 214 stairs. Pretty impressive for the first time out! Next practice is Monday, 3:30, hope to see you all there. (Unless you are in the Bahamas!)

There has been some confusion about the role of this club in the past couple of weeks, and I think anyone who has emailed me asking about that confusion has gotten a pretty clear answer. However, I just want to clear some things up, so I do not have to keep answering the same questions over and over again. I want to focus on being able to coach kids, not have to waste my energy on the politics that are always swirling around me.

The club I am running, the Walnut Hills Track Club, is a totally separate entity from any other program. It has nothing to do with Douglas County Schools, nothing to do with Chaparral High School, nothing to do with Chaparral Cross Country. We are a USATF certified club, we are charging just enough money to cover our insurance and club registration costs, the coaches are not getting paid, and we are doing to this to offer an alternative form of training for athletes that do not want to do a varsity fall sport at their high schools. We are focusing on building faster, stronger, fitter athletes using our methods and philosophies.

The WHTC will be doing some orienteering races in the next few months; we will be going to Red Rocks regularly in the summer; we will be doing some fun road races in the fall; and we are planning on heading to Arizona in November to race in the prestigious Nike Cross Nationals Series. The club had a lot of success in this race last year, even in the “B” division, so we are planning on moving up to the top division this year. I plan on making this club, and all our activities, fun and motivational; but at the same time, help athletes become faster, stronger, and get to a higher level of fitness.

The club will not train any athletes over the summer, in any shape or form, who are going to be competing for a fall sport at their high school. Even though it is still the pre-season, and fall HS sports do not officially start until August 17th, we strongly believe that those athletes need to follow the training principles of their high school coach. The club will not supplement or enrich any of the training you would get from your fall sport coach. For example, if you love running cross country then you need to dedicate yourself to the cross country program. Coach Ferguson, who can be contacted here, can provide you with any guidance in getting ready for the cross country season. Conflicting programs do not make you faster, dedication to one model of training does.

In the winter, the spring track program at Chaparral has multiple athletes that do not train with our winter track club program. They go to the Littleton club program or the Highlands Ranch club program and they have every right to. The CHS Track coaches do not restrict any athletes who are not competing with us during the winter. When these athletes come out for spring track, we coach them just like any other athlete we have on our roster. There are CHS cross country runners who run club track in the spring, not CHS track, and they have every right to do that. Athletes have choices these days and I try and honor all of the choices these athletes make. No athletes will be discriminated against by me because of the training choices they make in their high school careers.

In closing, athletes need to choose what athletes want to do. Either WHTC or a HS fall sport. Both is not an acceptable answer, unfortunately. In years past, there was no choice. I am offering a choice. Choices are good, and the choice is yours. If we get one athlete, if we get 100, we will coach them all up to the best of our abilities.

If you still have questions/concerns/observations, please email me, or make a comment, and I will do my best to satisfy your curiosity.

SEP