GCSU honors fallen athlete, rambles on

    On Saturday, March 1, runners of all ages and ability levels converged at the Wellness Depot for the fourth annual “Bobcat Ramble” road race.  The event was one of the final Homecoming activities on the GCSU campus and was open to students and faculty associated with the college, as well as members of the surrounding community.
    Senior Natalee Mayo worked as a public relations representative for the event.   
    “I think we had a really good turnout,” she said.  “It was really cute to see the little kids running in the Fun Run.”
    Mayo also designed t-shirts for the race, and helped with pre-race organization.
    The Fun Run took place at 8 a.m., prior to the 5K (3.1 mile) race, and was geared toward the children in attendance.  A solid turnout for this event indicated a strong presence of families who enjoy exercising together.
    The 5K race began at 8:30 a.m., and featured several GCSU students, but runners from all walks of life were present.  The ages of the runners ranged from approximately ten to 70 years old, and post-race chatter revealed the widespread backgrounds of the runners.
    The course took the runners from the Depot to downtown, winding through several blocks, then to the Centennial Center and through the parking lot and ended with a sprint back down Hancock Street to the finish line.
    Two faces in the crowd were of particular significance to the GCSU community.  Greg and Margie Bruner, the parents of former GCSU student John Bruner, who died of a heart anomaly while running in across country meet in Tennessee last summer, ran the race in John’s honor.  Bruner’s teammates were well-represented on the course as well.
    Mr. Greg Bruner spoke after the race about how happy his son had been at GCSU, and thanked everyone for making John’s last year his best year.
    In John’s memory, the first place overall trophies for both men and women runners became the first annual John Bruner Memorial Awards.
    Junior Alex Pate took home the award for the men, finishing the 3.1-mile course in 16:30, after an incredible shoulder-to-shoulder battle to the finish line with senior Rich Dobson. Sophomore Heather Raines cruised to the finish a couple of minutes later, well ahead of her competition, to take home the award for the women.
    For many runners, the chance to simply get some exercise outside in the unseasonably warm weather trumped the idea of winning or even competing.
    Daryl Essensa is an interim faculty member at GCSU in Outdoor Education who ran the course with her dog Marley, who was a hit with the other runners.  The duo was decked out in tie-dye shirts marked “The Running Hippies.”  Essensa received a first-place trophy for her age division.
    “I was honored to be asked to join the ‘Running Hippies’ with some of my outdoor education students,” she said.  “And Marley here has been running so much lately, I figured I’d bring her along, in fact I owe this trophy to her.”
    Word-of-mouth seemed to be the common factor for most runners showing up early on a Saturday.  Brennan Lemieux, a graduate student, was also motivated by his students.
    “A bunch of my students were talking about it, and I got an email about it,” he said.  “And since I’m an aspiring athlete –  I do triathlons and stuff – I figured it would be good training.”
    A good turnout, wide array of participants, and the remembrance of a GCSU student-athlete combined to create a special morning at the Depot.  The event will ramble on next Homecoming.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 7 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry