The GWTC Annual Town Hall was a good and fun event! For those of you who were able to attend, those on the Board who were present and I enjoyed the socialization and sharing of club information in person. For those who were unable to come, I’ll share some of the highlights here.

I opened with news of the Holy Comforter Track opening, which should occur this month. As I write this, the final surface for the track has been installed, with lining and marking to occur next week (by the time you read this). Preliminarily, I believe Gary Droze and Bill Lott will be moving Tuesday AM speedwork there in short order, but look to them for affirmative guidance.

Mark Priddy talked about the upcoming elections and encouraged folks to run for office. All 4 officer positions will likely change this time, hopefully predominantly or entirely from within current Board ranks. I do not recommend someone who has not yet been on the Board or attended several Board meetings run for these 4 jobs (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary). It can be done, but it would serve the Club best if someone with some level of experience could occupy these jobs. The very best entry point for serving your club would be a Director at Large. In these jobs (there are 6), you can gain some experience with the flow of the meetings, figure out who you might make happy or mad with certain comments, and generally see how the club operates. Beyond these 10 positions, there are 5 other jobs in which you may have an interest. Take a look or contact me or Mark if you want to know more. Should you wish to run for one of the Officer positions and are not or have not been on the Board, I would highly recommend you start attending Board meetings for the balance of the year.

David Yon and Jeanne O’Kon shared the Club’s efforts regarding youth running programs (SMIRFS and Summer Track), which are wildly successful, judging by the numbers, and a key pipeline to future GWTC members. More importantly, they are a hoped-for foundation for these kids to enjoy a lifetime of running, good health and an active lifestyle.

Emily Webster shared the successes of the Club’s very active weekly group run activities (as well as annual race-specific training groups) and provided awards for leads in these categories.

Lisa Unger shared Race Director and race-specific changes upcoming for the year, i.e., Prefontaine will move back to town (Alford Greenway); the Ultra has new race directors in John Baughman and Travis Crow (John was up later in the agenda) and will move this race off-road to Munson Hills; upcoming Race Director training on RunSignUp (already occurred); etc.

Ashton Smith spoke on the Club’s efforts in Communications, which are going through the roof on a variety of media outlets, as well as Mickey’s podcast views, etc. If you have not noticed a significant uptick on social media and in your personal emails, take a harder look, as they are doing a wonderful job!

With Peg Griffin’s assistance, I shared the club’s present financial position (healthy) and the tremendous philanthropic achievements through the club’s races, school grants, and the Chenewith Fund (over $500,000 cumulatively over the last 5 years)!

Allen Blay shared an update on the GWTC BOA Marathon/Half (Robert and Kory were out of town), including improvements and cures learned from our 2026 races, course changes, etc.

Lastly, John Baughman shared a more detailed vision for the Ultra races, which was fairly tentative until the August Board meeting (8/12).

In sum, the Annual Meeting exhibited clear interest in Club activities, interest by certain members in running for office, good fellowship among members (notwithstanding free pizza and beverages), and good, clear status and updates for the year ahead.

Since this month’s column has become relatively informational, I will wrap up with a couple of things presented, accepted or voted on at the August meeting. With special thanks to Bill Dillon, the Club now has a Privacy Policy. This governs our use of your personal information, so please take a look. It can be found in the footer on the home page or under Policies in the Business section. With special thanks to Peg Griffin, the 2026-2027 GWTC annual budget was voted out and is now posted under Business. Please peruse this information, as it governs much of what we do as a club. We intend to post quarterly status updates on spending, except for races, which occur throughout the year. These are done incrementally.

John Baughman has 3 race distances planned for the Ultra—10K, 25K and 50K—out of J. Lewis Hall Park in Woodville, running in the Munson Hills area. Allen Blay presented, and the Board passed, a Volunteer Recognition Policy, which is also posted under Policies in the Business section of the website.

Allen did an incredible job researching and crafting this policy on his own, so please check it out! The last thing I will mention is that the Board voted to support Gary Droze in his efforts to seek the reopening of 2 Leon County tracks on weekend mornings.

All for now, folks! Go for a sweaty run.