On Your Mark
Keeping Active with Sweat Running Club…
Later this month, when contestants set off for the Redding Marathon from a Shasta Dam overlook, they’ll be helping to mark the SWEAT Running Club’s 55th year of promoting health and fitness.
Known formally as the Shasta Wonderland Elite Athletic Team Running Club, the organization was founded by Egon Harrasser in 1970 and has hosted more than 200 running events, ranging from fun runs to 26.2-mile marathons.
Harrasser, who passed away in 2022 at age 87, was an avid runner who formed the group to make a difference in the community by funding scholarships for high school track and cross country athletes, says Tori Parks, SWEAT’s longest-serving board member.
The group’s oldest event, at 53 years old, is the NorCal John Frank Memorial Run, a 10-mile race held each March. It now commemorates Frank, a legendary Central Valley High School athlete (a state champion and U.S. Junior Olympic winner in 1979) who died in a construction accident in 1986.
SWEAT also conducts the Redding Marathon, a stunning cross country trek from Shasta Dam down to the Sundial Bridge that has been around since 2002. While not as big as other marathons in the state, the Redding Marathon continues to draw raves. Parks says SWEAT routinely receives feedback from runners “who always say it’s one of the most beautiful marathons they’ve ever run just because of the scenery.”
In addition to the Shasta Dam and Sacramento River views, the Redding Marathon is a Boston Marathon-certified race, meaning runners can use their Redding times when they apply for highly coveted invitations to the historic race in Massachusetts.
“You have to have a time at a certified course to be considered for the Boston,” says Jamie DeSantis, a member of SWEAT since the mid-1990s. “That means it has to be exactly measured at 26.2 miles, all mapped out, and sent to the USA Track & Field Association to get certified.”
By far, the most popular SWEAT club event is the Turkey Trot, held on Thanksgiving mornings, where runners and walkers can choose between a 6-mile run or a 2-mile fun run/walk prior to sitting down for the big turkey dinner. Parks, the race director, says about 1,700 people showed up at November’s event.
The Whiskeytown Relays, featuring four-member relay teams on a 20-mile course around Whiskeytown Lake, was another popular SWEAT club event that was brought to an end by 2018’s Carr Fire.
Parks says the chance to catch up with past SWEAT scholarship recipients, who routinely come back to participate or volunteer at club events, is a big motivation to stay involved with SWEAT. “The Turkey Trot is a perfect example of the community coming together and all the kids who participated in track coming home. I’m grateful we have that event in our group of races.”
Parks, a Clinical Laboratory Scientist at Shasta Regional Medical Center, also is eager to keep alive the memory of SWEAT’s early leaders, including Harrasser, the Hon. Richard Abbe, Dr. Harry K Daniell and Parks’s late husband, Dick, a popular track and volleyball coach at Shasta College and Enterprise, Shasta and Anderson high schools. Dick Parks died in November 2022 after a lengthy battle with leukemia. Annually they award more than $10,000 in scholarships in memory of Abbe, Daniell and Parks.
DeSantis, a six-time Boston Marathon runner who also has completed marathons in New York, Rome, Greece and the French Alps, says he sought out SWEAT after relocating from Los Angeles and has found it to be a fun conduit to meet people and promote running in the North State.
“There’s a lot of nice people and a wide variety. The commonality is everybody likes to exercise and run. It’s a really good support group,” DeSantis says. He notes that the Tuesday night social runs provide a nice introduction to SWEAT and a great way to find running partners. “There’s safety in numbers,” he adds. •
SWEAT • www.sweatrc.com
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Upcoming Events:
Redding Marathon, Jan. 19
NorCal John Frank Memorial Run, March 1
