Recreation: Gulf Coast Runners to start Hall of Fame

At the banquet, five club members will be the inaugural class of the Gulf Coast Runners Hall-of-Fame.

"We talked on the board (of directors)," said club president LeRoy Huenefeld. "We're going to induct five people from the 1980s who really got the club started."

Instead of a bust (a la the Pro Football Hall of Fame) or a plaque (a la the Baseball Hall of Fame), the Gulf Coast Runners decided to make their Hall of Fame a little unique.

"We've got that dark green trailer we put our equipment in, and we're going to put the names on the door so people know who the Hall of Famers are."

The club originally began giving away year-end awards four years ago to honor people who'd made outstanding contributions to the club over the years.

This year the club will hand out the year-end awards, including male and female member runners of the year, volunteers of the year, rookie of the year and most improved runner.

"It was originally designed to reward those people that have either done a lot for the club in working for the club or have really excelled in running over the years," Huenefeld said. "That first year, we had Bill Marshall, and he's the one who pulls the trailer. The next year it was George Dondanville and his wife Susan because they'd done some triathlons and things like that.

And now we've got all kinds of categories to honor people in."

For more information on the Gulf Coast Runners -- who sponsor training runs at Pelican Bay on Thursday and Saturday mornings at 6 a.m. -- call 434-9786 or visit gcrunner.org.

For members needing to make reservations for the awards banquet, RSVP to jnauray@cs.com by Dec. 6.

Naples resident Crafton Wallace successfully defended his International Sport Karate Association kickboxing cruiserweight title with a second- round technical knockout of Alois Michalak in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night.

With a group of 80 friends and family among the 2,000 fans in attendance, Wallace landed a kick to the head 30 seconds into the bout, and it was only a matter of time before Michalak fell.

"Everything went according to plan," Wallace said. "I was planning on a first or second round knockout, and it got stopped in the second. I could have had it in the first, but I was trying to put on a better show."

Wallace is now in training for an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout on Dec. 20 in Orlando and will also compete in "King of the Cage," a pay-per- view event in Miami on Jan. 24.

A couple of notes as you continue to prepare for the 2004 Naples Daily News Half- Marathon on Jan. 18.

First, you can save $10 on registration and beat the rush if you get your forms in before Dec.

1 (Monday). The fee rises to $35 between Dec. 1 and Jan. 4, the cut-off date for registration. You can register by picking up a packet at Naples On the Run or on our website, www.naplesnews.com.

Here's the half-marathon training schedule for the week of Dec. 1-8. Days until the race: 58.

Goal mileage this week: 19.

Monday: rest; Tuesday: 3 miles (easy); Wednesday: 4 medium; Thursday: 4 easy; Friday: rest; Saturday: cross train; Sunday: 9 mile long run.

(You can e-mail staff writer Will Graves at wrgraves@naplesnews.com )