By Coach Jim
In late September, 1985, I presented a walking clinic at Cal State Long Beach. From the 60 people who showed up, a committee met to explore the idea of forming a walking club. By mid-November we hammered out a proposal that we presented to the full group. Seventeen people joined the Club at the first official meeting, and I think that only four of us are still around. We elected a president (who created our logo), secretary, treasurer and membership chair, and off we went. The name Easy Striders was founding member, Oscar's, suggestion and everyone loved it from the start. As you can guess, choosing club colors was not so easy. Everyone wanted red, but we couldn't agree on what to put with it -- we still can't.
Membership grew slowly for the first several weeks. A couple joined by January and several walkers from the original clinic joined up by spring. By summer we were on a new-members rampage. Seventeen "Charter Members" who joined in 1986 are still with the Club. We were well over 100 members by the end of that year, and about two years later we actually grew to about 350. As the walking boom waned in the 90's, so did our membership. We currently number about 85 members.
Easy Striders has the respect of the walking and running communities in Southern California and beyond. We've trained men, women and kids to participate in walking competitions locally and internationally. We've grown national champions and Olympic team contenders. More impressively, we have nurtured the efforts of adult non-athletes who surpassed their wildest expectations by becoming 5k, 10k and even marathon racers. We have encouraged and supported wilderness excursions, including local hikes, high sierra adventures, and Himalayan treks. And there is much more. Yet for all this, we continue to thrive because we have become a community of friends who love, respect and support one another. Let's keep it up.