Gate City Striders
http://www.gatecity.org/gcs_Big_Med/bm/Club_Profiles/Coaches/index.shtmlCoaches
Dave Camire – Head Coach
I’ve been a Gate City Striders head coach for 11 years and a former head boys & girls track and cross-country coach at Dracut HS. As such, I was selected Coach of the Year in 2004. I’m the co-founder of the popular running website Coolrunning.com and President of Yankee Timing Company scoring over 150 events annually. I’m the founder of the Mill Cities Relay and have served as commissioner of the event for the past 25 years. I’m the founder and director of the Good Times Series, in Lowell. I’m the founder and director of the Wild Rover Series. I was the first recipient of the Phil Quinn Award, a recipient of the Gerry Little Memorial Award from the RRCA for top middle size club newsletter in the country and a recent recipient of the Fred Brown Cup. An award that I’m very particularly proud to have received since it’s named after my idol. I served as the first team manager of the GLRR Racing Team. During this time GLRR won 3 National Cross Country Championships, 3 overall (top club) New England Grand Prix titles, won nine out of ten Mill Cities Relays, 12 Boston Marathon team titles, 6 Mt Washington team titles and over 100 USATF Grand Prix Championship team titles. As a result, I was also an initial inductee to the GLRR Hall of Fame and recipient of the first GLRR Lifetime achievement award. I was the Co-founder and co-director of the first Bay State Marathon and have served as the RRCA New England representative for 5 years. I wrote a weekly running column in the Lowell Sun for three years. As a runner, I was a member of the Wang Team (along with coach Jim Stronach) that won the National Corporate Cup Championship in the mid-eighties. I was a scoring member of four New England Marathon championship teams and completed 60 marathons. And, only 4 of those were over 3 hours. My PR’s are: 2:36:21 - marathon, 1:44:27 – 30k, 1:13:54 - half marathon, 54:51 – 10m, 33:12 – 10k, 16:15 – 5k & 4:42 -1m.
Jim Stronach – Summer Track Program Director
I ran cross-country and track at Tewksbury High School from 1973-1975. I was a two-time MVC Cross Country league champion, New England champion in the mile(4:15:3) and current indoor and outdoor holder of school record for the mile. In the fall of 1974, I set a record on every cross-country course in the Merrimack Valley conference. After high school I ran for famed coach Bill Squires at Boston State College (now UMass Boston) where I ran cross-country, indoor and outdoor track. After college I continued my running career, running local road races. I won the Lowell VFW Marathon – my first marathon – in 2:29. I was the winner of the first STU’s 30K (1980) in 1:39:28. Some of my PRs: Mile - 4:10, 5K - 14:40, 10K - 30:30, Marathon – 2:23 (Boston). I am the first winner of Coach Dave Camire’s Good Times series. I have been coaching the GCS Outdoor/Indoor Program since 2007. I am a member of the Tewksbury Memorial High School and Boston State College Hall of Fame.
Dave Dunham – Fall Marathon Program Director
I’m a New England mountain running historian and author of “Only One Hill - a history of the Mt Washington road race”. I’ve run 103,937 miles, averaging 9.48 miles per day from December 1978 – present. I’ve run in 16 countries and 49 states. I’ve been injured 795 times missing a total of 1,471 days. I once crashed a stationary bike while riding it in my basement. I have won 348 races while competing in 1,034 races covering 6,325 miles. I’m currently the fastest nude cross-country runner in the US with a 15:56 5k. I ran twice in the same day, more than 24 hours apart. I ran on every street in Londonderry, NH in one calendar year. I ran rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon in the summer. I set the record for the fastest ascent of all of the county high points in CT (2:44). My Career Highlights include: 30 Year winning streak (won at least one race a year from 1979-Present), 7-time member of the US Mountain Running team, Silver medalist 1993 World championships, Gap France, US Mountain runner of the year 2000, Three-time Mount Washington Road Race champion, including setting the course record in 1988 and winning in the closest margin of victory with a one second win in 1989, Two-time member of the US 100 km Ultra marathon team, American record (at the time) for 50 km - 2:57:36, 9th fastest US time for 100 km winning the Chancellor’s challenge in 6:46:39, the first US National Snowshoe Champion winning in 2001, Three-time member of the USSS team, Qualified for the 1992 and 2000 US Olympic trials marathon, finished 20th in 1992, New England Runner of the year in 2000 and 1992, 8-time New England road running Grand Prix champion (a 7 race circuit from 5 km to marathon) and 16-time individual New England Champion at distances from 5 km to 50 km. My Personal Bests are: 5K – 14:08, 8K – 23:27, 10K – 29:17, 12K – 36:59, 10M – 49:36, 20K – 60:53, ½ Marathon – 65:02, Marathon - 2:19:28, 50K – 2:57:36, 50 mile – 6:11:18 (trail),100K – 6:46:39. I have coached or managed at U Mass - Lowell, the Gate City Striders, the Central Mass. Striders & the Teva US mountain team. I am the race director for the Merrimack River trail race, the USATF NE mountain running championships, the USATF NE trail running championships & the Northfield Mountain snowshoe race. I founded the USATF NE mountain running circuit and my Favorite Quote is : “I’m not dead yet”. – Monty Python’s The Holy Grail
Mike Wright – Youth Program Director
I’m 42 and have been running for 13 years (7 years in high school and college and then again during the past 6 years). I went to high school at Frontier High in Buffalo, New York and college at U Mass Lowell where I received a degree in Plastics Engineering. Currently I am a business owner of Hungry Herbs in Merrimack, NH. I am also the Track Coach at Milford High School, the Cross Country Coach at Milford Middle School and a Coach for the Gate City Youth Program. My other interests include: golf and camping. My running PR'S are: 3000m Steeplechase - 9:18 (which was a school record for 17 years), 5k - 14:34, 10k - 30:20, 15k - 47:30. My “old man” PR's are: 5k - 17:32, 10k - 37:16, 10 miles - 1:02:03, 1/2 marathon - 1:20:40 & marathon - 2:58:50, my first.
Brian Withers – Beginners Program Director
I’m a resident of Manchester and have been coaching the Gate City Strider's "not-so-fast" runners for approximately 7 years. I get tremendous satisfaction from seeing a beginning runner move from a walking program to running a 5k race 10 weeks after joining the program. In fact, many of my runners even go on to run marathons after joining the club as a "non-runner." I enjoy just about any outdoor sport including running, golfing, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and tennis. And, one of my favorite sayings is in Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps."
Keith O’Brien – Assistant Coach
I have been a teacher in the Tyngsborough School District since 1997. Presently, I am a 7th grade geography teacher at Tyngsborough Middle School and I am the head cross country coach for boys and girls at Tyngsborough High School. I am also a registered EMT and have worked on an ambulance for 16 years. I have been running competitively since the 7th grade. I ran college cross country and track at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. I have had coaching stints at Chelmsford High School, Westford Academy and since 2001 have been coaching at Tyngsborough High School. Coaching at Gate City has been a great experience.
Richie Blake – Assistant Coach
I coached Cross Country and Track at Tyngsborough Jr. Sr. High for 13 years, and I always took pride in the fact that I coached runners to much faster times than I ever ran. I started my own running in the 7th grade, when friend of mine told me about how "In cross country, you get to run around in the woods". It sounded like fun to me, and since then it has been a great source of stress relief for me. In the summer of 2001, I left working at the high school to follow some of my own dreams, which included driving across the country, taking lots of photographs, and living in Alaska for 4 months. I've traveled in all but five states (But I have Alaska and Hawaii in the bag.) Since leaving the school, there was an empty place in my heart, which has been fulfilled by the honor of coaching the best running club in the area.
Justin Soucy – Assistant Coach
I am currently the general manger of the Chunky's Cinema Pub Nashua, NH. I have also been the Pelham High School XC and Track Coach for the past 7 years. During that time we have always had a State qualifying runner and I am currently coaching the 2nd fastest female in Pelham High history. During the summers, I’m a coach at the Foss Running Camp in Strafford, NH. My interests include: Bowling, Golf, Cape Cod trips, Camping & going to Red Sox games. As a runner, I prefer shorter distances like 5Ks but half marathons are starting to grow on me and I plan on running my first marathon this fall at Bay State with the goal of qualifying for Boston. My PR’s are: 800 - 2:03, 1600 - 4:42, 5K - 16:13, 5m - 27:52, 10K - 36:09 & Half Marathon - 1:21:15