Track workouts are held on
Wednesday nights at 6:00 PM. Athletes wishing to join our
workouts should come ready to run and meet in the pool/gym
entrance hallway at Niles West High School before 6:00PM.
Lockers and showers are available. For more information on our
club, ask on of our runners at one of the CARA Club Circuit
Races.
The Niles West/Oakton Runners Club is one of the oldest
clubs in Chicagoland and is coached by Patrick J. Savage and
Melissa Savage. The Niles West/Oakton Runners Club was started
by Coach Savage and combined the athletes from Niles West and
Oakton Community College. In 1971 the club began competing on the CARA Club
Circuit. It wasn’t until 1989 that Coach Savage accepted other
athletes on the club.
It took the convincing of Katie
Vandergraaf that seven women she ran with wanted to be
coached, wanted to run workouts, and could do the workouts. It
was a rainy day when these women showed up to run and run they
did.
The first workout consisted of a warmup run, 8 times the
bridge/hill, and then 8 times 800 meters on the track with a
400 meter jog! (He didn’t believe they would do it!) Each
athlete ran the workout and wanted to come back the next week
for more. That convinced Coach Savage that he should open the
club up. That very first year, the NW/ORC won the CARA Club
Circuit by one point!
Athletes on the club have run under 30
minutes for 10K and others have taken 80 minutes to run the
same distance. Ability has no bearing on whether one can run
with the club. The only requirement is that the athlete wants
to run faster, live longer, live better, and enjoys the good
company of other athletes.
The NW/ORC has an annual dinner
banquet, organizes their annual Pub Run, volunteers at many
races including the Chicago Marathon, supports CARA and
USAT+F, and generally has a good time running. We also volunteer at all the Niles West
cross country and track meets. The first
Wednesday night practice of every month is followed by pizza
and beverages at Barnaby’s.
Coach Pat Savage has been involved
with running his whole life. He started competitive running at
St. Mel High School on the West Side of Chicago in 1959. He
ran at DePaul University on a Cross Country Track Scholarship
and earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
DePaul. He captained both his high school and college teams
and was MVP at both schools.
Coach Savage has coached at
DePaul Academy and St. George High School. He is presently
an assistant cross country coach at Depaul university. He has been inducted into the DePaul University
Athletic Hall of Fame and the Illinois Track and Cross Country
coaches Hall of Fame. His Oakton CC Marathon Team won the
NJCAA National Championship in Texas in 2002.
Coach Melissa Savage has been a volunteer coach at Niles West High School and
Oakton Community College. She has been a competitive runner
since 1981, run 7 marathons, and has been one of the top
competitive runners on the Cara Circuit since 1989 and was named "Veteran Runner of the Year"
by CARA in 2005. Coach Savage is also an ACE Certified Trainer. She works with the
NW/ORC and also does personal training on an individual basis.
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