Announcement
Runners wowed by Olympic champion Peter Rono
By Laurie Gordon
There was Olympic gold in Newton last week when 1988 Olympic 1,500 meter champion, Peter Rono, of Kenya, spoke to over 70 runners at the Eighth Annual X-Treme Running Camp.
His message to the kids was that anything is possible with hard work and dedication. Rono urged them to listen to their coaches, teachers and mentors, respect their bodies and put in hard work not just with their running but with everything they strive to achieve in life.
Following his speech, Rono reached for a blue velvet box in his bag. When he opened it, mouths dropped as he revealed the gold medal he won at the Seoul Olympics. Rono then went one step further and let the middle and high school kids at the camp pass the medal around. “I want you to see it, hold it and touch it so you realize that one day you too could win one.” Rono left the kids with, “I believe that one day, one of you will win a gold, a silver or a bronze medal. Will it be you?”
X-Treme Running Camp attracts runners from all over the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York area. Camp is held at Swartswood State Park and consists of distance base building, guest speakers and speed and leg turn over drills.
Crystal Carlson, of West Milford, was back at camp for her third year. “This camp gets me going heading into my cross country season,” the 17-year-old said. Carlson will be a senior at West Milford High School and has her sights on hitting some personal best times this fall. The culmination of her goals would be to run in the coveted Meet of Champions which just happens to be on her birthday, November 17.
Another camper, Kittatinny Regional High School’s senior co-captain, Kylie McGlew, had one word for the medal: “Wow.”
