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CSU is organized into four sections: Running, Race Walking, Cross-country Skiing and Orienteering. The sections provide their members with a range of training and racing opportunities that allow them to develop fully as amateur athletes. All sections welcome families and individuals, and the Club sponsors several social events throughout the year.
Since its founding in 1962 by Sara Mae and Larry Berman, the Cambridge Sports Union has been one of New England's premier athletic clubs. The 250 women and men who make up the club range in experience and ability from beginners to nationally competitive athletes.
The running section organizes regular workouts for its members, coordinates team racing activities, and puts on a number of social events throughout the year. For those who are either new to the running scene or the New England area, CSU's friendly, collegial style fosters an excellent environment in which to meet training partners with similar goals and abilities.
CSU sponsors several training and racing activities in conjunction with major running events in the Greater Boston area. Some of the regular features on the CSU calendar include:
CSU holds weekly track workouts in preparation for major events on the running calendar: road racing and track during the Spring and Summer, cross-country and/or marathons during the Fall, and indoor track during the winter. In addition to track workouts, many smaller informal groups meet regularly around the Boston area for longer runs.
The planning of track workouts is a collaborative effort at CSU. Rather than relying on a single coach for guidance, the team draws on the extensive training experience of the club's members. All runners are encouraged to suggest workouts that they think would benefit other members of the team. Men's and women's team coordinators then integrate these suggestions into several workout options that help structure the track sessions and allow individuals to train with others of similar abilities and with similar training goals. Those runners looking for help with specific training needs will find a wealth of information in the personal experience of other members of the club.
CSU enters women's and men's open, masters, and seniors teams in over a dozen major track, road, and cross-country races in New England. The centerpiece of the competitive running is the USATF-NE Grand Prix. In this series of championship events, CSU teams compete against other New England clubs at distances from 5 kilometers to the marathon. At the end of the year, an overall team champion is declared based on team performance in each event.
CSU organizes several social events throughout the year. Some regular fetes that are now CSU traditions include:
CSU also sponsors informal get togethers at major racing events where members can cheer each other on and celebrate the team's racing successes.
| Women Open | Sue McNatt, sue@csurun.org |
| Men Open | Terry McNatt, terry@csurun.org |
| Women Masters | Catherine Cagle cat@csurun.org |
| Men Masters | Jonathan Wyner, jonathan@csurun.org |
| Women Seniors | Catherine Farrell, catherine@csurun.org |
| Men Seniors | Duke Hutchinson dukehutch@yahoo.com and Jim Terry terry@psfc.mit.edu |
| Clydesdales & Fillies | Glenn O'Connor, glenn@csurun.org |
| Official club business | Gail Breslow, gail@csurun.org |
| Website | Tom Dmukauskas tom@csurun.org |
| CSU Orienteering | Larry Berman |
| CSU RaceWalking | Ken Mattson |
| CSU XC Skiing | Rob Bradlee |
No not the racetrack, the outdoor track at Harvard U., behind the Harvard Football Stadium, where CSU folks are known to work out on Tuesday nights. Show up at 6:00 - 6:15 or so, and ask anyone who looks like a friendly runner if they belong to CSU. On a given night, there are several CSU groups running workouts of varying intensity and distance. If you're not ready for a track workout, you can still show up and run a few miles warmup and get to meet some people.
A good place to meet CSU runners (as well as runners from other clubs) is at Fresh Pond, in Cambridge, home of the Saturday morning Fresh Pond races. These races (2.5 and 5 miles, more or less) have been run every Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. for almost 30 years. You would not believe the world-famous runners who have run, won, and sometimes lost at Fresh Pond on their way to greater glory at the Olympics or wherever. Show up with enough time to warm up for the 10:00 a.m. races, which are held on the East side of the Pond, accessible off Fresh pond Parkway, right next to the WaterWorks.
The Saturday morning races are not organized by CSU, but there is usually someone from CSU there running.
In the summer, from late June to late August, CSU does organize Thursday night Fresh Pond races, which start at a different place (the old pump house on the Huron Ave. side of the Pond) at 6:30 p.m. Race distances alternate between 2.5 and 5 miles every week.
There's always someone doing a long run who wants company. A few of us regularly run on the trails. We're sorry we're not more organized about long runs, with a schedule and all...you can check the CSU Event calendar, or, better yet, just call up one of the CSU team contacts and ask what's going on this week.
We show up at USATF-NE championship races, as well as numerous other team events and other runs. Look for the telltale white uniforms with the orange and blue yin-yang, the symbol of the unity of balancing forces in the Universe...like hamstrings and quadriceps, for instance.
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to: tom@csurun.org