Late race founder to be honored at 34th annual Mount Madonna
Challenge
There is an old story in the local running community about the late Bill Flodberg. He was out for a jog one day in the early 1970s when his friend, Ray Sanchez, eased up next to him in his pickup truck.
“Hey Bill, you OK?” Sanchez said.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Flodberg replied.
“You need a ride or something?”
“No, I’m running.”
At the time, Americans were still warming up to the idea of running for vocation. The jogging craze was a decade or so away from reaching critical mass in the U.S., but Flodberg helped give it a head start in South Valley.
Everyone has a passion in life; something that gives them direction and meaning. Flodberg had two: running and charity. He entwined them in organizing races like the Mount Madonna Challenge and the Garlic Festival’s Reek Run (now the Run for the Stinkin’ Roses), which benefits local arts.
The “Running Man” also gave back to his sport. In between jogging more than 100,000 miles in his lifetime, Flodberg mentored local prep runners, cofounded the Joggers and Striders Club, penned columns and a book on running and taught physical education and English at the William F. James Boys Ranch in Morgan Hill.
“He was very involved with the Ranch,” Flodberg’s wife, Sheila, said. “That was important to him.”
The former Cal runner and outdoor enthusiast also became a heralded cross country coach at Gavilan.
Consider Flodberg as the Bill Bowerman of South Valley running.
“If I were to paraphrase, a running legend for South County,” said Dean Raymond, a Joggers and Striders member and former cross country and track and field coach at Live Oak. “His dedication to running and giving back was amazing. Up until his death, he was a competitive runner.”
Flodberg died in March after he was struck by a car on Monterey Road near his home in San Martin. He was 75.
The South Valley Running Club will honor him next Saturday before the start of the 34th annual Mount Madonna Challenge, an event Flodberg’s longtime runningmates affectionately associate with him.
“It all started with Bill Flodberg,” SVRC president Craig Lore said. “We want to state a remembrance to his contribution.”
The race began as a fun run Flodberg and the Striders and Joggers did through Mount Madonna County Park in the mid-1970s. They started and finished at Sprig Lake.
“It was one hell of a run,” Gilroy’s Richard Young recalled. “We did that for years. We had to keep the track in the park eventually — the Highway Patrol made us.”
The Mount Madonna Challenge continues to grow in popularity as South Valley’s only trail race. It draws runners from as far away as Berkeley and Menlo Park. This year, it is part of “Trail Runner” magazine’s TrailRunner Trophy Series, a points-based program of 123 trail races in the United States and Canada. Results from the Mount Madonna Challenge’s 6K, 12K and 18K races will be posted at the magazine’s Web site.
Registration is available online at www.svchrome.org/mtmadonnachallenge.htm. The 18K and 6K will begin at 8:30 a.m., and the 12K will follow a half hour later.
Race director Allan Abrams expects to have about 180 entries.
“We think the Trophy Series and the dedication are attracting more people,” he said. “It’s always been a popular race because of the environment. It’s such a nice and challenging place to run.”
The course could not have been tailored more to Flodberg’s liking. Several SVRC members have said the Mount Madonna Challenge may be renamed after him.
“I wish I had him here with me,” Sheila said after being told about Saturday’s dedication. “He started so many runs in the area like this. I’m very proud of him.”
