Hall of Fame

The DCRRC Hall of Fame honors excellence in both running and volunteer contributions to the running community by long-time club members. A member must have attained master runner status (at least 40 years of age) and achieved distinction over a ten year period by a superior running career which brings recognition to him or herself and the Club (through placement at races or through running longevity), and/or by significant Club administration (serving on the Board or other chair ship); and/or by volunteering (including the organization and procurement of volunteers); and/or by coaching other runners as individuals or teams; and/or by race administration (directing of races); and/or by prolonged running related publicity (Club newsletter or other media involvement). New Hall of Fame members are selected by current Hall members and the president of the club.

Hall of Fame Members

1994 – Hugh Jascourt

Hugh Jascourt was the founder of DCRRC and also played a key role in the start of the RRCA. He did most of the legwork for setting up and directing races in the early years and created the Snowball and Bunion Derby series as well as the Run for Your Life program.

1994 – Gar Williams

Gar Williams followed Jascourt as President and built a volunteer corps to expand club activities. He originated the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and other popular DCRRC races. He now lives in Colorado. Both Jascourt and Williams have also been inducted into the RRCA Hall of Fame.

1994 – Larry Noël

Larry Noël directed our Greenbelt races (the Labor Day 15K, the 20 Miler and the Marathon) for many years. He served as co-President in 1968. He has worked tirelessly as a race organizer since 1972.

1994 – Ray Gordon

Ray Gordon dedicated a great deal of time and effort to keep DCRRC in tact during its first decade. He wrote a History of the club on the occassion of its Tenth Anniversary. He now lives near Front Royal, VA.

1994 – Ed Barron

Ed Barron was an active member of DCRRC in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He advocated the institution of age-group awards and promoted race walking as a discrete event. In 1967, Ed founded the Potomac Valley Seniors Track Club. Ed died in 1976.

1995 – Lou Castignola

Lou Castignola was an early member of DCRRC who set a number of age group records at several distances. Lou won the Washington Birthday Marathon in 1963, 1967 and 1968. His course record of 2:22:45, set in 1967 still stands. He broke the National two hour track record ad the 20-mile record in the same race in 1967, then smashed both of his own records in 1968, while adding the American record for the 25K enroute. He is also a National 30K Champion. In perhaps his finest performance, Lou placed fourth in the 1967 Boston Marathon with a time of 2:17:48. Lou’s unrelenting training regimen and racing touchness inspired a generation of runners and raised the level of local competition to new heights.

1995 – Bob Scharf

Bob Scharf won the first DCRRC event ever held — a five mile open race held at Hains Point on June 21, 1961. He went on to win countless others, dominating the local running scene for ten years and earning national recognition. Scharf won the Washington Birthday Marathon in 1965 and 1966. He twice placed in the top 25 at the Boston Marathon – finishing 8th in 1966 with a time of 2:21:15. Scharf also represented the USA at the International Cross-Country Championships in Morocco in 1966, and his 1967 15K time of 45:15 remains the fastest ever recorded over the tough Greenbelt course. Bob was Treasurer of DCRRC for several terms, becoming legendary for frugality. His contributions as an elite athlete and volunteer sustained the club from its inception to the 1970s.

1996 – Robert Thurston

Robert Thurston is chair of DCRRC’s course measurement committee and is one of the leading course certifiers in the nation. Bob has directed numerous DCRRC races, including the Bread Run 10K. Bob, together with his father, Paul Thurston, held the national record for a father-son marathon team performance.

1996 – Jack Fultz

Jack Fultz won the 1976 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:20:19. More notably, Fultz won the 1971 Washington Birthday Marathon in 2:29:58. Jack now lives in the Boston, MA area.

1998 – Jeff Darman

Running Achievements: Jeff Darman ran a 59:55 10 Mile PR in 1974 and a 3:01:45 marathon. Jeff finished 16th in the 1973 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Jeff still wins a few awards in the 50-54 age group.

Contributions to DCRRC and the Running Community: Jeff joined DCRRC in 1971 and served in a number of volunteer positions. He served as DCRRC Vice President and then assumed the Presidency of DCRRC upon the death of Rod Steele in a 1974 plane crash. Jeff left the DCRRC Presidency to become RRCA President in 1976.

Jeff has served on the Cherry Blossom Race Committee starting in its first year, 1973, and was the long-time coordinator of the event and still serves on its Board. Jeff directed the former Nike Women’s Race for four years and now directs the SGMA Capital Challenge, a race for members of Congress, the Executive Branch, Judiciary, and the Media.

Jeff is a member of the USATF National Board of Directors and of the Men’s LDR Executive Committee. He has been awarded the USATF President’s Award and the Award of Merit from the LDR Committee.

Jeff stood up for athletes in the crisis years of the 1970’s, waging war with the AAU and lobbied Congress for passage of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. He has testified before Congress several times on the Sports Act, most recently in 1997.

1998 – Phil Stewart

Running Achievements: Phil Stewart began running in his junior year of high school in Washington, DC at Woodrow Wilson HS, and has never stopped. He placed second in the DC city meet in the mile (1968) with a time of 4:31.4 – which stood as the school record for 20 years. He was captain of the cross country team at Carleton College in Northfield, MN and recipient of the school’s award for excellence in cross country.

After college, Stewart began competing in races in the DC area where he emerged as one of the top area runners. In 1974, he placed third in the National AAU 50 miler in New York. The following year, he was the first Washington area finisher in the Boston Marathon in an excellent time of 2:19:58. He qualified and participated in the 1976 Olympic Trials in the marathon. In 1977, Phil placed 15th in the Boston Marathon.

Phil was selected as the DCRRC Male Runner of the Year in 1975 and won the 1974 Snowball Series. Phil set the single age (24 and 25) National Records at the DCRRC Two Hour Track Run. Phil set the course record (1:48:16) at the Reston 20 Miler.

In 1973 Phil was on the winning team in DCRRC’s Two Bridges 36-Miler (the precursor of our National Capital 20-Miler.) As a result, DCRRC sent him to compete in a sister 36-Mile race in Edinborough, Scotland in August 1974.

Phil still competes regularly and was the first finisher from the State of Maryland at the 1993 New York City Marathon with a time of 2:56:57 and completed the 100th Boston Marathon in 2:57:46.

Contributions to DCRRC and the Running Community: Phil has served as President of DCRRC and as race director of the Nortel Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Phil has also served as Vice President for Administration of the RRCA, Treasurer of the USATF (formerly TAC) Men’s Long Distance Committee, and has served on the USATF National Board of Directors.

Stewart was one of the founders of Running Times magazine in 1977. Stewart received notoriety in 1979 when he took the dramatic photos of President Jimmy Carter’s collapse during a 10K road race at Camp David. The photos were published in Sports Illustrated, Time, and People magazines and other publications. The photos were nominated for a Pulitzer prize the same year.

1999 – Henley Gabeau

Running Achievements: Gabeau was first woman in the 1977 and 1979 North Carolina TC Marathon. Gabeau finished 4th in the 1976 Marine Corps Marathon and 55th woman in the 1977 Boston Marathon. Gabeau won the 1976 DCRRC Most Improved Woman Runner Award.

Contributions to DCRRC and the Running Community: Gabeau has been a member of DCRRC since she started running as a part of our Run-For-Your-Life program. She served as DCRRC Secretary in 1975-76. Subsequently, she served as President of the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) from 1986-90, and as Executive Director of RRCA from 1990 to the present.

Gabeau was a pioneer in organizing womens running. As Secretary of the International Runners Committee, Gabeau lobbied successfully for the inclusion of the women’s marathon in the 1984 Olympics. From 1980-86, Gabeau was Director of RRCA’s Women’s Distance Festivals, and served as President and Founding Member of Washington RunHers Unlimited from 1976-79. From 1980-84, Gabeau was Race Director for the four annual Avon International Running Circuit’s women’s races in Washington, DC, and from 1989-92 was Race Director for the Nike Women’s Race 8K in Washington, DC.

2005 – Jim Hage

Running Accomplishments After placing third at the Marine Corps Marathon in 1984 and ’85, Jim Hage won the MCM in 1988 and ’89. He is the only back-to-back male winner to date. He placed eighth in the 1992 Olympic trials marathon in 2:16:27. He finished 26th in 1988 trials and 37th in 1996. His marathon PR is 2:15:51, Nov. 1992 in Columbus, Ohio. He has run under 2:20 approximately 10 times and has run nearly 100 marathons, beginning when he was 15 years old (Maryland Marathon.) His ten mile PR is 48:35 at Cherry Blossom in 1987, and his half marathon PR is 1:04:30 at the Philadelphia Distance Run, 1987. Jim ran on the U.S. World Cup marathon teams in 1989 (Milan) and 1993 (San Sebastien, Spain). He has also run marathons in Taiwan, Kenya, Prague, England and Chile. Since turning 40 in 1998, Jim has competed as a master runner at races across the country and has been nationally ranked in his age category. Jim won the JFK 50 Miler on November 23, 2002 in 6:13:10, becoming the oldest winner in the race’s 40 year history (at the age of 44.) Jim was inducted into the Marine Corps Marathon in October of 2003. Jim was inducted into the DCRRC Hall of Fame in April of 2005. As of his DCRRC induction, Jim has run every day for more than 22 years. His running streak began in August of 1982. He has run at least two miles every day, generally averaging 80-100 miles per week. Service to the Running Community Jim has been a running correspondent for the Washington Post for more than seven years. He writes for various regional and national running publications, gives talks on running to various groups as time allows, serves on race committees, assists with the St. Jude Marathon Training Program and has served on the DCRRC Board of Directors.

2006 – George Banker

George was 32 when he started running. He worked at IBM and participated in a race at a company picnic. He started serious training with the goal of beating his Branch Manager and ended up running a 12-minute mile. Through IBM he met members of the Rock Creek Running Club (RCRC), and quickly joined.

IBM also sent a team to the 1984 Corporate Cup Relays, which was directed by Dan Rincon on behalf of Runner’s World (RW) magazine. He enjoyed it so much that they affiliated with the U.S. Corporate Athletic Association and put on a regional corporate competition for 9 years. After RW dropped out George graduated from runner to race organizer.

During that era, most local clubs were affiliated with DC Road Runners (DCRRC) as an umbrella group, and the RCRC was no exception. Each club conducted one of DCRRC’s low- key races, and as a result, George ended up directing the DCRRC Langley 8K for nine years. This led George to join DCRRC in 1983, where he scored its Bunion Derby and Snowball series using a typewriter instead of a computer and spreadsheet program. This data collection experience led him to become the DCRRC Historian and the USATF record keeper for DC. In 1985 he was voted the DCRRC Most Improved Male Runner.

Banker started writing about running when he was sent to the 2000 Olympic Trials to cover it for an Army publication. He then wrote a running column for the Journal newspapers.

In 2005, Banker started writing a book, The Marine Corps Marathon: A Running Tradition, a book on the history of that race. Banker got the idea of the book in 2000, when his cousin who was starting a book publishing company asked him if he had any book ideas. Banker is no stranger to the race, as he ran his first MCM in 1983 and grew up living on the Quantico Marine Base. His father served in the Corps for 24 years and his stepfather for 30 years. The book was published in 2007.

Banker found he enjoyed race management more than his traditional day jobs. So, in 2003, he joined the Army 10 Miler as its Operation Manager. He has also directed the DCRRC Washington Birthday Marathon Relay from 1989-99, and served on the race committee of a number of local races including: the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis, the GW Parkway 15K, the MS Half Marathon, the Sallie Mae 10K, Lawyers Have Heart 10K, Navy 5 Miler, PVI Runfest, and Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.

Banker has completed 23 Marine Corps Marathons with a bet time of 3:09:17 and marathon PR of 3:04:32, and half marathon time of 1:22:40.

2006 – Paul Thompson

Paul has been integral to the club’s success for many years. He served on the board for 10 years and was president for three. For the past 14 years and counting, Paul has directed the club’s biggest race (and biggest fundraiser), the Alexandria Turkey Trot 5 Mile run. He directed the Hugh Jascourt 4-Miler, named for the club’s founder, for many years. He has been the longstanding DC representative to the RRCA. As if all this weren’t enough (did we mention a wife and four kids?), Paul practices what he preaches—he has run 14 straight JFK 50 Mile runs, 54 marathons (3:09 PR), 25 triathlons, including three Ironman events. Professionally, Paul is a full professor of strategic studies at the National War College in Washington. Congratulations!