Professional marathoner Desiree Linden doesn't speak at banquets often, but proximity, timing and the reputation of Fort Wayne's running community meant a appearance Sunday at the Parkview Mirro Center for the 40th annual Fort Wayne Running Club banquet.

The day started with a group morning run at IPFW with Linden, the banquet keynote speaker and a professional marathoner who trains with the Hansons-Brooks Project based in Michigan.

Linden, 34, has an extensive training schedule, and her speaking engagements are limited.

“It's not too often because I'm traveling a lot and training a lot,” she said. “When it fits, it's really fun to do, but I also like to keep it special. I can only tell my story so many times before people go, 'Oh gosh, I've heard that. That's boring, that's old.' It has to be for the right group. Having the high schoolers here will make it pretty unique. When I was invited, I jumped at the chance.

“People are very passionate, and that's pretty much runners everywhere, but it's been really cool to connect with these runners in this area. I've heard great things about the trail system; there are a ton of ultrarunners, so these guys are getting really into it. The high schoolers that are going to be celebrated are great, and they're starting young. But you have these people that have been doing it for a lifetime that are all celebrated.”

The banquet also honored the points series award winners, 33 Ironrunner recipients, those club members who completed all 16 points series races, as well as Chris Brown Outstanding High School Distance Runners of the Year: DeKalb's Tyler Schwartz for the girls and Carroll's Connor Goetz for the boys.

“Our big portion of our banquet is to honor the high school runners, because they're the future and to honor those is a great accomplishment and it shows what kind of talent we have in this area,” club president Mike Clendenen said.

Other awards included the 2017 RRCA National Outstanding Volunteer Award to Don Lindley, the Spirit of Running Award to Lisa Ramirez, the Joe Ziegler Breaking Barriers award to Barb Scrogham, the President's Award to Johnathan Gottschalk and the Extra Mile Award to the Bishop Dwenger girls cross country team.

“Every year, the banquet's important,” said banquet committee member Liz Schloss, who also was the club's Don Lindley Volunteer of the Year. “Our speaker brings a sense of community and to put together something like public run event to have everybody come and be together and celebrate not just the upcoming races and what's been done, but celebrate the community as a whole is a big thing.”

The club also announced new Ironrunner award tiers to go along with the 17 points races. The award will now feature Gold (all 17 races), Silver (14 races) and Bronze (10 races) levels with volunteer work at one race required for the award.

areichel@jg.net