The Finger Lakes Runners Club is pleased to announce the addition of five new Lifetime Members, as voted on at our January 2017 Board of Directors meeting. The FLRC’s Lifetime Membership status is a way for the club to acknowledge individuals who have committed extensive time and energy to the club on a voluntary basis, over a period of many years. This includes, but is not limited to, directing or organizing club events, holding a significant position on the club’s Board of Directors, outstanding community involvement with regards to running, and volunteering at several club races each year.
The FLRC would like to recognize the following individuals for their years of service to the club, the community, and the sport of running.
Steve Shaum:
Steve Shaum has served on the Finger Lakes Runners Club Board of Directors since 2005. During his tenure, he has served as Membership Coordinator from 2005-2010, Co-President in 2006, Board Member-at-Large from 2011-2012 and 2017 to present, Race Director for the Finger Lakes 50s Trail Races from 2012-2016, and is currently on the Finger Lakes 50s organizational committee. Shaum has also served on various board committees, including the marketing, finance, web development, and governance committees.
The Finger Lakes Runners Club organizes over 20 running events each year, and Shaum has not only run in nearly all of the events—he has also volunteered at them. Shaum is known to show up early at a race to help out with registration and set-up, run the race, then step in to assist with finish-line timing and cleaning up after the event. He is also known to volunteer at and run in many other races around the Finger Lakes region.
Shaum has been a runner for 30 years. He and his wife Nancy Kleinrock enjoy traveling globally and participating in races during their travels whenever possible. Both of them have enjoyed running races around the United States, and in New Zealand, Spain, and Italy.
Shaum has worked full-time in higher-education administration for 22 years and currently works in the Office of Student Services at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, where he conducts academic and career advising.
Bruce Roebel:
Bruce Roebel became a runner after turning 40. He has run with the High Noon Athletic Club since 1996 and has volunteered extensively with the Finger Lakes Runners Club. Roebel has been the race director of the FLRC Turkey Trot since 2007, turning the low-key prediction run into a much larger event with over 400 runners. Before he took on this role, the Turkey Trot rarely exceeded 100 participants. This is truly a labor of love for Roebel—keeping extensive records, all by hand and memory. For the last eight years, he has used the Turkey Trot to help the Finger Lakes Runners Club partner with Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County to provide meals for those in need. Last year, with only 268 participants, the Turkey Trot contributed $2,756 to Ithaca Loaves & Fishes.
Roebel directed the indoor and outdoor FLRC track meets from 2010 to 2015. He has been the official starter at the meets since the turn of the century. In addition to volunteering at track meets, Roebel arranges to secure the Barton Hall and Kane Field tracks for FLRC events. For the past ten years, Roebel has served as a course marshal the Skunk Cabbage Classic Half Marathon and the Ithaca 5 & 10, and he has helped out at the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile.
Roebel has worked at Cornell University for the past 36 years. He is currently the administrative manager of the Department of Anthropology, the Program in Archaeology, and the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines. He and his wife, Kathleen Gibson, share their time in Ithaca and Watkins Glen.
Nancy Kleinrock:
Nancy Kleinrock has served on the Finger Lakes Runners Club’s board for 13 years in various capacities. She served as Assistant Newsletter Editor from 2004-2007 before becoming the Newsletter Editor—a position she continued through 2012. In 2006, she was the FLRC’s Co-President. Additionally, Kleinrock served as the club’s Secretary from 2009-2012, as Executive Vice President from 2012-2013, and returned to Secretary in 2014—a position she currently holds.
Kleinrock regularly volunteers at races, either throughout the entire duration of an event or before or after she runs it. The FLRC awarded Kleinrock the Hartshorne Volunteer of the Year award in 2013.
Along with her various roles on the Board of Directors and as a volunteer, Kleinrock can be found putting in miles on the area’s trails—around the Finger Lakes region, and nationally and globally while traveling. She’s also competed in many road races, achieving age group national ranking times in distances including 5k, 10k, the half marathon, and the marathon. She is happiest when she runs long on trails, with favorite race distances being 50k or 50 miles. In 2010 she placed first masters woman at the USATF 50-Mile National Championship, and the same year placed third in the 50–54 age group at the USATF National Cross-Country Club Championships. She’s even won a couple of races outright, finishing ahead of not just the women, but all the men too!
Outside of running, Kleinrock works as a writer for a Southern California conference company that focuses on emerging high technology.
Tom Hartshorne:
Tom Hartshorne, son of Finger Lakes Runners Club founder James Hartshorne, was the club’s “copy jockey” during its early years. In the late 1960s and early 70s, when Tom was in middle school and high school, he took on the tasks of copying announcements and invitations, stuffing envelopes, and licking stamps for numerous FLRC event mailings.
In 2002, when Tom Hartshorne returned to Ithaca after 30 years away, he stepped in to become Assistant Director of the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile—a competitive track event named in honor of his father. His role involved helping race director Rick Hoebeke bring in talented athletes to flesh out the elite masters fields. Hartshorne was racing against international competition at the time and was able to convince many of the world’s best masters track athletes to come to Ithaca and race at Cornell’s Barton Hall. In 2007, Tom took over the Hartshorne Masters Mile as Head Director—a job he’s held for the past ten years.
Hartshorne has also contributed his time to many other volunteer tasks, such as the lead cyclist for the Skunk Cabbage Classic Half Marathon, and as a course marshall for the Ithaca 5 & 10 and FLRC Turkey Trot. From 2002 to 2014 he also volunteered his time coaching youth soccer and hockey.
Hartshorne has competed in dozens of USATF Masters Championships and has won several national titles in 800-meter and 1500-meter individual competitions, as well as a 4×800-meter relay team member. He has competed in seven World Athletic Veterans Association Track Championships over the past 21 years, making the finals five times in the 800 and 1500-meter events.
Hartshorne has worked in Brooklyn since 1983 as a real estate developer and presently manages properties in Brooklyn and Ithaca. His son Hunter runs cross-country for Carnegie Mellon University. His daughter Corinne runs cross-country as a sophomore at Ithaca High School.
Sue Aigen:
Sue Aigen has served on the Finger Lakes Runners Club Board since 2001. During this time she volunteered as Race Director for the Danby Down & Dirty from 2001-2006, has been a Race Co-Director for the Women’s Distance Festival 5k since 2008, and has served on the club’s finance committee since 2001. Aigen regularly volunteers throughout the year at FLRC races, as well as at local, non-FLRC running events. This past year Aigen volunteered at the Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon, the Monster Marathon, the Cayuga Nature Center 5k, and the YMCA Santa Run 5k.
Aigen’s running career began in 1974 as a member of the Cornell women’s cross-country and track teams coached by Greg Page. She became a member of FLRC in 1995 when she joined Bob Congdon’s Sunday running group in order to meet new friends and prepare for her first marathon.
Aigen has worked in the financial services industry for the past 38 years, and is currently a financial planner with Finger Lakes Financial Group.