Hall of Fame Award

When looking at the list of previous Hall of Fame recipients it’s hard to imagine this individual not yet having received this honor.

Dating back from from when record keeping began back in 1988, considerably before I officially met this runner back in 2008 this individual ran more than 212 races locally, 37 marathons and over 100 ultramarathons between 50K and 100 miles. This runner toed the line at the worlds oldest and most prestigious 100 mile race and ran in astonishing 100 mile trail race in 19 hours 2 minutes 30 seconds, which at the time what’s the third fastest time by an American at that distance in his or her respective age category. Take it from me he 19 hour 100 miler is insanely fast.

These efforts throughout the years have earned this individual runner of the year in the past.Over the same number of years that this individual was kicking arse on the racing scene he/she was also busy directing races: nine years at the Tallahassee ultra distance classic, the marathon for six years and for the past few years the Pine run. Any of you who have run Randy’s races are keenly aware of the care that was put into these races and the resulting quality. It’s these efforts that have resulted in this runner winning the race director of the year award in the past.

More often than not, even though you may see this individual during a race she/he has been helping set up or mark the course way before he race starts, taking supplies and volunteers to the aid stations and spending an equal amount of time afterwords breaking down and getting thesupplies from the course.

The selfless efforts have resulted in this runner winning the Bill Lott volunteer of the year award. Runner of the year: check Race Director of the Year: check Volunteer of the Year: check

As if that is not enough part of being a Hall of Fame inductee is having brought respect to the GulfWinds Track Club through their contributions and activities outside the club.

This runner is a master gardener, regularly guest preachers at churches throughout the area and leads educational birding trips down at the St. Mark’s national wildlife refuge.

This has been a long time coming, Buddy! I am extremely honored to be allowed to say these words, “please rise and give a much deserved standing ovation to your 2015 Gulf Winds Track Club Hall of Fame inductee, Mr. Gary Griffin.