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Through the course of 2002, our many photographers were present at over fifty events, running and otherwise, and took more than 2,200 photos for the website. At the end of 2002, this web site has more than 8,600 photos and soon to exceed 10,000. Following our strong tradition (see 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1998), we have selected our favorite photos of the year. In past years, we selected our favorites based upon our rather subjective and idiosyncratic opinions. But 2002 was a special year, as this is the 30th anniversary of the Central Park Track Club. Therefore, our selections this year will emphasize the team theme. For your reading pleasure, we have inserted the photos inside the page and so it may take some time to download the entire page with all the photos. Photo 1 This first photo was used in the Central Park Track Club 30th Anniversary Party during the narration about the open men's team during the last 10 years. The individuals are some of the runners who have contributed memorably to the open team during the time. The collage was compiled from photos that were taken over the years. Of course, things on this team is such that a number of the open team runners are masters who have won their division for the last four years in a row.
Photo 2 If there is an open men's photo, then there must be an open women's photo. But as we will see later, women are more equal than men here, at least as far as photographic representation goes. As this photo shows, we like collages because they show people in various states and moods.
Photo 03 Showing the principal scorers on the team is not a democratizing process, as it obviously favors the alpha people. In the commemorative booklet for the 30th Anniversary, the front cover contained a collage of 63 individuals whose photos were taken over many years. This is a random mix of team members, where performance records were not a factor in the choice and covers all types of runners --- male, female, fast, slow, old, young, short, middle, long, very long, ... Photo 4 The year 2002 was also the year when our middle-distance program bloomed. A large part of the program was premised upon team relay events, which set up collective goals for the individuals runners to aim for. The first major event was the Boston Terrier Classic, at which the following photo of the women's distance medley relay was taken. At the time, we annotated this photo with these words: "This is our recruitment poster of Melissa Tidwell, Margaret Angell, Devon Sargent and Charlotte Cutler, looking into the camera --- self-assured, confident, proud, playful, elated, unified, ... and will sail right onto the top 10 favorite photos of the year."
Photo 05 We were actually quite wrong about the preceding photo being our team recruitment poster. Several weeks later, we had two Distance Medley Relay teams and all of them were draped in the new uniforms. Now that makes for a truly stunning poster!
Photo 06 Another major objective of the year was to identify records that are realistically within reach by the personnel that were present on the team. One of the major targets was the American record for 4x800m women 30-39. In January, our team of Devon Sargent, Kim Mannen, Julia Casals and Sue Pearsall took that record at 10:34.2. In April, our team of Sue Pearsall, Denise Whittaker-Crain, Kim Mannen and Devon Sargent took the record further down to 10:20.5. For these women, the experience must surely be transformative, not the least because the building was rocking with their cheering teammates during the whole race. Sue Pearsall: "For the first time in my life, I am actually running!"
Photo 7 That is not to say that the men sat around and did nothing. In January, the team of Jim Aneshansley, Dan Hamner, Norman Goluskin and Sid Howard took the world record for men 60-69 4x800m relay down to 10:15.2. In April, the same team took that record down to 9:58.0. The current holder of the individual men 60-64 indoor 800m, Sid Howard, said, "I would rather have a team record than an individual record." For an individual, the experience is the absolute time for the race to finish, with too little time to think or enjoy. For a relay, there is the additional unbelievably exciting extra time when you realize that every team member was running faster than their projected times and that the record was well in hand and if you have either finished your leg or about to begin your leg, it was nothing but sheer ecstacy.
Photo 08 Away from the track, we sent three 12-person relay teams to the Reach The Beach Relay in New Hampshire this year. The post-mortem report reads: "Everybody who was part of the great adventure agreed that the camaraderie and team spirit generated by such an event epitomizes what Central Park Track Club is all about."
Photo 09 We would like to believe that New York City is the most cosmopolitan city in the world. In this melting pot, a running club reflects all the diversity of the city in which it is located. For the 30th Anniversary commemorative booklet, the following photo appeared in the section known as Diversity. Try and identify the following people --- a New York Fire Department captain, a United Nations diplomat, a Stuyvesant High scholar-athlete, a Kenyan Ph.D. psychologist, a Canadian securities research analyst, a German chemist, a Nigerian stud, a Puerto Rican Olympics track team member, a Jamaican soccer player, an Icelandic running record holder, a Jewish-Puerto Rican cyclist, ...
Photo 10 We had promised that the next photo to be a recruitment poster. Our thinking was that this should bolster our men's team, but that man in the middle would prefer to think that this is just a picture of "The Rose and Two Thorns."
Photo 11 Unhappily, not everything was perfect and idyllic for us. On February 17th, 2002, Jack Brennan (a founder of the Central Park Track Club) passed away. This is a loss for the whole team, but his legacy will endure --- strive for excellence, fierce competitiveness, absence of vanity and a sense of humor ...
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