JK8K
Dedicated to Jim Kurtz
Jim was a very dear and great friend. He was always thinking of others. Gave his free time constantly. He was a fellow runner who was quite competitive and always humble with his successes.
To honor his life we established the JK8K cross country race to celebrate his kindness and generosity and his undying devotion to his family.
Striders in Action
JK8K 2026
October 11, 2026
Following the arrival of Tropical Storm Rachel overnight, dawn at the Ramona Community Park revealed mud, rain, and water hazards everywhere. For those adventurous enough to brave the elements, plenty of challenges awaited them once they got to the park. A good-humored, can-do spirit prevailed, fortunately – and it appeared that everyone left with rewarding memories to take with them.
Congratulations to all the participants, runners and volunteers alike, for persevering and sharing – helping to create a wonderful event that we all will long remember.
Fall ’26 Odds & Ends
The results from the San Diego Senior Games road races have finally been posted, and Mark Gookin (67) followed up his track successes by winning the 50+ 5K race outright in 20:41. We’d also like to give a shout-out to Jim Metts (85), who won his division in 35:22 – a time fast enough to have gotten him first pace in the 70-4s.
BTW – Mark has his own website; it has plenty of interesting blogs for everyone’s reading pleasure:
https://www.markgookinruns.com/
We’ve also heard from Aleks Avakova (45), now living in Hawaii. She ran the Uloha Half Marathon in Kailua on October 4th, and came away with 1st place (45-9) in a time of 1:49:52. She finished roughly10 minutes ahead of the 2nd pace runner, in an AG field of 16.
On to the Dirt Dog season: The Striders 60’s team ran their 3rd race at the Ursula Rains Balboa Boogie 5K on October 3rd. Robert Fanjas (63) finished 6th in his division with a time of 22:41, John Tennant (67) ran 29:00, good for 7th (65-9), and Peter Gregory (64) finished 11th in 40:43.
At the Assocation Championships at Mission Bay Park on11/8, Robert was the only Strider to run, but ran a good 40:59 to finish 5th. For the season, the Striders 60s finished in 4th place, with Robert 7th (60-9), John 22nd and Rich Magargal 23rd.
Last but not least, we’ve heard from Keith Wetterer (85), who gave us this update:
I’m glad to see the Striders did so well at the Sr. Games, taking home lots of hardware. To update you: After surgery, I started by walking 15 minutes per day. After a couple of weeks, I mixed it with running, starting with 30 seconds and working up to 10-12 minutes of running mixed with walking. Today, I ran 1-1/4 miles and felt good. I will now work on increasing distance and reducing times. I am optimistic that I will be back. Keith W.
Keith is an inspiration, and we’re all looking forward to seeing him back in action in 2027.
Aleks Avakova | Uloha Half Marathon 2026