By Coach Jim
In 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 November we hammered out a proposal that we presented to the full group. Seventeen people joined the Club at the first official meeting. We elected a president (who created our logo), secretary, treasurer and membership chair, and off we went. The name Easy Striders was sugggested by founding member, Oscar Wickliffe, and everyone loved it from the start. Choosing club colors was not so easy, however. Everyone wanted red, but we couldn't agree on what to put with it -- we still can't.
Membership grew slowly at first. A couple dozen had joined by January and several walkers from the original clinic finally joined up by spring. By summer we were on a new-members rampage. We were well over 100 members by the end of that year, and two years later we grew to about 350 walkers. 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 have trained men, women and kids to participate in walking competitions locally and internationally. We have 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 racewalkers. 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.