The winner of the Spirit of the Equinox Award for 2024 is Jim Brader. Below is the presentation by Andy Holland.
Good evening, RCN’ers
Tonight, I am honored to be the presenter for this year’s Spirit of the Equinox award, which celebrates the memory of George Bloom, a Fairbanks runner who was a true good will ambassador for the running community. He constantly encouraged and assisted runners new and old, always being upbeat and supportive. Each fall, the previous recipients of this award gather and select a person who carries on George’s mission by contributing to the local running community, being an inspiration to others and having a great attitude and enthusiasm towards other runners. I know this year’s recipient meets those requirements and has for decades.
This person has an intense curiosity and interest in people which is evident by their eagerness to find out as much as they can about those they meet at races and running events and just about anywhere else.
A random conversation at the end of a race 36 years ago is how I first made their acquaintance, the same way hundreds of others have. This person actually gains sustenance through conversing, always expressing a seemingly endless interest in knowing more about those around them and providing feedback, advice and sometimes just silliness when appropriate. This person is pathologically upbeat and optimistic, always ready to provide material or verbal support to those that need it.
Although, a fierce competitor as a youth, this person now participates as a social function instead of a competitive one. Every event they participate in or every race they direct is just another opportunity to immerse themselves in social interaction and talk to people, hopefully coming away with a good story or two for future use. This person has such good stories that they have their own chapter (38) in Matias Saari’s classic book about the Equinox Marathon. People have been known to run alongside this person just tor the distraction from the discomfort we sometimes experience during a race. Not everyone though, appreciates a constant stream of chatter during a race. During one Equinox, the women’s winner, happened to pace herself just behind this person for most of the race. At the end of the race, she ran up to this person and shouted, “Don’t you ever shut up?”, then said they could have at least talked loud enough for her to hear the stories better. This person embodies the saying that the story never ends because they are constantly fine tuning their repertoire while talking to, well, pretty much anyone and everyone. In between stories, this person asks how others are doing, exchanges running hacks and provides advice and assistance as needed, and is always upbeat, even in harrowing situations.
I have had the pleasure of running, biking, hiking, snowshoeing, packrafting, and travelling in Alaska, Boston, Canada, Ireland and Spain with this person and they have always been eager to find out more about other people and to help out in any way they can. They are a great cheerleader for running and human powered activities in general. I won’t tell more stories because some of them are NSFW and they are also so numerous that I would get jerked off the stage at some point because they would never end.
As a recent retiree from being a meteorologist for the National Weather Service for almost 40 years, this person took off this week to see the Cape Breton Music Festival in Nova Scotia, so, in their absence, I am proud to announce this years Spirit of the Equinox award recipient is Jim Brader. I will accept the award for him and get the plaque to him on his return. Thank you for your attention.