Advisor Joseph Bails and students of Parkland Running Club meet before the first run of the season.
EvyJo Compton
Staff Writer
The Running Club at Parkland has started its second running season. After a successful first year, the club is looking forward to running, bringing in new members, and creating a support group for all of those interested in running regardless of ability.
The club will meet once a week and is advised by Joseph Bails.
“I am the faculty advisor for the Parkland Running Club and I am a kinesiology instructor at Parkland College,” Bails said. “I am a certified running coach with a coaching business I co-own with my wife, and have been coaching track and field and cross country for Mahomet-Seymour Junior High since 2005. The club was started by a small group of students and they approached me to be the advisor.”
The Parkland Running Club was started by students who share the love of running. There has not been a long-distance running team at Parkland for quite a few years, so for some students this club will substitute for a long-distance team.
“There was a student, [Valeria R.], here in the 2015 to 2016 school year that is a runner and she saw a need to have a club for the many past runners that attend Parkland,” Bails said. “I was her running coach for a time a few years ago and she approached me to see what I thought of creating the running club. And, having tried to bring cross country back to Parkland as a sport several years ago, but being told that starting a student club would be a better option because of the budget, I was all for supporting Valeria’s proposal in the spring of 2016.”
The club was formed to bring running students together and has now spread to including all students no matter their level of running ability.
“[Our goal is] to provide students of Parkland College the opportunity to participate in a weekly group run and to provide a supportive group for all abilities,” Bails said. “The goal is that we meet in both the fall and spring semesters.”
The club held its first meeting on Thursday, Sept. 14. Usually the club meets on Thursdays, but if the club’s members need a different day, then the running day can be changed.
“We meet at least once a week at a time that works the best for as many students as possible,” Bails said. “We have tried late morning and early afternoon and typically on Thursdays. Really, we are still working out when the best time is going to be for everyone. And, there may be multiple different smaller groups that meet to run because of the different schedules.”
The club has been small because of the loss of members, but with the new running season starting Bails has high hopes for more members.
“We have had between 10 and 20 over the past year and a half,” Bails said. “I don’t know the current numbers because we have had a lot of students transfer or graduate. We will have a more accurate count in another week or two.”
Along with their weekly runs, the club will be preparing for a couple of events throughout the year.
“We don’t [have anything special planned] at this time, but we are always looking at ways to increase our footprint and to be visible in the community,” Bails said. “We are trying to create a fan group for the Dirndl Dash on Oct. 7, which is at Crystal Lake Park in Urbana.”
For more information, visit the Parkland Student Life page at parkland.edu/studentlife and click on “Clubs and Organizations” in the list at the left-hand side of the screen; a short description of the Running Club can be found here. Alternatively, those interested can contact Joseph Bails at jbails@parkland.edu for additional information.
