November 10, 2017
Contact: Jeff Darman 
               (610.925.1976)
               (610.299.4436 Cell)
               jdarman@rrm.com  

As a highlight of the Road Race Management Race Directors' Meeting, Bill Roe was named the MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2017. The award is made for contributions to the sport of long distance road running over the course of a lifetime. Scores of nominations were received that read like a Who's Who of running. The 10-member committee had the difficult task of reviewing the nominees.

"Today we honor a person who really made a significant difference," said Phil Stewart, editor and publisher of Road Race Management. "Bill Roe was at just about every critical juncture in the evolution of running since the early 1970's, from lending couch space to Club Northwest runners who would become Olympians to helping to lead the sport's national governing body out of the shackles of amateurism. Running truly has been his life's work, and he has shown tireless commitment," he added.

Nominator Allen Bonney said of him, "Bill Roe has spent nearly three-quarters of his life promoting road running, cross country, and track and field. The extent of his involvement in these sports runs from regular ‘grunt work' to tasks that are more ‘executive' in nature. In every case, he does the job with little - if any - thanks. He has impacted our sport as an administrator, promoter, event director, and event announcer. So dedicated is he to our sport that he's seldom held a full-time job, preferring to stay part-time in order to serve his life's major passions: road running, cross county, and track and field. He has traveled the world in service to our sport and the athletes who compete in them."

Some examples of his involvement include:

Local

• Founder of Club Northwest, Seattle's premier running club now in its 45th year

• Director of Seattle's summer All-Comers track & field series, now in its 50th year

• Founder, Pacific Northwest Track & Field; served in all executive positions, including President from 1973 to 1981

National

• National officer of USA Track & Field, 1988-2008, including President from 2000-2008

• Acting CEO of USATF from February to July 2008

• Member, USATF Board of Directors from 1986-2009

• Chair, Long Distance Running Division, 2012-2016

• Member, USATF Men's Long Distance Running Committee, 1973-present

• Cross Country Chair, 1994-2000

International

• Member of the IAAF Cross Country Committee

• USA delegate to IAAF World Congress, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

• Team leader or manager of eight USA National teams

• Chef de Mission of eleven USA National Teams

• Founder and team leader of 9 teams for North American Cross Country Championships

Collegiate

• Assistant Coach, Western Washington University since 1986

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented at the annual Road Race Management Race Directors' Meeting on November 10 in St. Petersburg, FL.

Road Race Management (www.rrm.com) is a member-based organization that publishes a newsletter and many other publications designed for race and industry professionals, and conducts a prestigious annual national race directors' meeting and trade show in Florida. MarathonFoto (www.marathonfoto.com) is the world's largest race photography company.