A night to smile for Gulf Winds Track Club award winners and members | David Yon

There should always be a reason to smile, even if we have to look around a bit to find it.

The Gulf Winds Track Club Annual Awards Ceremony provided plenty of reasons to smile on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, when the club held its Annual Awards Presentation at the Goodwood Museum and Gardens.

The ceremony provides a great opportunity to recognize the skills and hard work of members of GWTC and major contributors to GWTC and the running and triathlete community. Awards were also presented for performances in the Grand Prix competition. Bill McGuire served as master of ceremonies.

Running: The new year opens with a run and keeps on trucking | Yon

Health: Look to science-based evidence for better health in 2022 | Mahoney

While COVID, Omicron style, reduced the size of the crowd somewhat and kept participants further apart than normal, it had little impact on the quality of the presentations or the quality of the award winners.

The top award of the night, induction into the GWTC Hall of Fame went to Chika Okoro. Judy Alexander had the honor of presenting the award. She started by noting that members of the Hall of Fame should be “Individuals who have brought respect to the Gulf Winds Track Club through their contributions, activities, and running accomplishments, and who have played a major role in shaping the ideals of the club.”

She went on to describe why Chika deserved the award.

This runner is described by their friends as friendly, humble, genuine, inclusive, loving, kind, dependable, positive, energetic, supportive, inspirational, phenomenal, welcoming, a dynamo. This runner has been running for nearly 20 years, has done about eight marathons, more than 2 dozen half marathons and a whole host of other races of various distances.

But if you were to ask how many times this runner has come through as a volunteer in a clinch and helped with anything and everything club related, the answer would be in the hundreds of times.

I can’t even imagine how many people are regular runners and walkers now because of the encouragement and leadership provided by this club member… This club member has served on the Board, received the Cleveland Caldwell Advancement of the Sport Award, and won a national award through Road Runners Club of America for gathering and championing beginner runners.

And they do all these things with a big warm smile, quietly and without fanfare. They usually deflect praise to someone who may — or may not — have assisted them. The Gulf Winds Track Club is a bigger, better, and more well-respected organization because of this runner’s constantly positive ambassadorship.

I had the honor of presenting the Cleveland Caldwell Advancement of the Sport Award to Chris Stanley. This award goes to someone who has made significant educational and practice-oriented contributions to the sport of track and field and running this past year.

Chris’ wife Lauren (who nominated him) wrote that Chris “served as the Lead Sport Psychologist for U.S. Track and Field during the Tokyo Olympics. This position required his psychological, psycho-educational, and emotional support of the U.S. Track and Field athletes during the Tokyo Olympics. This position required his psychological, psycho-educational, and emotional support of the athletes before, during, and after their time in Japan.”

I would imagine his task was more than difficult just dealing with the stop-starting of COVID – 19.

Stanley has a book scheduled to be released in 2022 that provides insight for coaches working with athletes who have hidden disabilities. He identifies numerous 'hidden' disabilities (e.g. ADHD) and other sensory/muscular conditions, how they manifest in sport, and provides insight for coaches working with these athletes.

He is a member of USATF and the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. Beyond his work with elite athletes, Chris participates in coaching conferences (North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletics Association) providing lectures on mental skills training for track and field coaches.

Stanley was a guest on the High-Performance Mindset with Dr. Kamphoff; a podcast for athletes of all abilities. In his spare time, he supports local athletes with pro bono Sport Psychology services, volunteers with youth running activities, and is an active participant in GWTC events. His passion for running is evident in all he does.

There were so many deserving winners it is impossible to give them all the attention they deserve but I can list them at least. Over the next few days, a more complete list and copies of the presentations will appear on gulfwinds.org. The following is a list of the annual awards and the winners. It is enough to make you smile.

Female Triathlete of the Year – Melanie Leitman presented by Bill Dillon

Male Triathlete of the Year – Daniel Cook presented by Tina Bahmer

Community Award – Don McLaughlin, pastor at the Church at SouthWood, presented by Mary Jean Yon.

Volunteer of the Year – Robert Skrob presented by Bill Hillison

Female Runner of the Year – Tsige Tadesse presented by Korey Skrob

Male Runner of the year – Ryan Truchelut presented by Lisa Unger

David Yon is addicted to running. In his spare time, he is an attorney with the Radey Law Firm.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gulf Winds Track Club recognizes top runners with awards ceremony