week of 6/19/02
 
 
 


Local camp attracts worldwide running talent
By Don Hendershot

The campus of Western Carolina University will be the home base for this year’s Mountain High Running Camps.

Mountain High, a camp for high school runners between the ages of 13 and 18, is the brainchild of Minot State University’s head cross country and track coach Scott Simmons. Simmons has coached collegiate and elite runners for the last 13 years. Some of his coaching highlights include the U.S. National Coach of the 1997 World Half Marathon Championship Team; 11 time Gulf Coast Conference cross country coach of the year; and coach of 35 NAIA All-Americans including a 1500-meter national champion.

Simmons is familiar with the training opportunities in Western North Carolina. He has worked with other area running camps in the past but decided to organize his own enterprise.

“I had some ideas of my own I wanted to implement,” he said.

This year will be the second for Simmons and Mountain High but the first at WCU. Simmons sees the move to Western as a positive step. The dorms and classroom space plus a track for workouts will enhance offerings, Simmons said.

The Mountain High program has expanded to offer two training sessions this summer. Kenyan Week will be July 15-20 and Elite Week will be July 22-27. Despite the different names, both weeks are formatted the same.

The mission of the camp is to broaden the horizons, expand the running experience, and open the minds of high school harriers.

Simmons said the camp will accomplish this with a combination of running and study plus week-long interaction between the students and elite runners like 15-time NAIA all-American Kenyan Sammy Nyamongo, Kenyan John Gwako (sixth-place finisher in the 2000 IAAF World Half Marathon Championship), Brad Tighe (four time All-American at Minot who posted the second fastest time by a Canadian in 10 years at his first ever world championship competition, the 2002 World Cross Country Championship in Dublin, Ireland) and Simmons’ wife, three-time NAIA All-american and Mizuno Racing Team member Petra Staskova.

Simmons said one of the unique aspects of Mountain High is the fact that the elite runners are present during the entire camp.

“Some camps bring elite runners in for a day or two for special programs, but we bring them in as staff. The kids have a whole week with them and really get a feel for what these people are all about.”

Responses from last year’s camp participants seem to bear that out. “Kenyan Day” or “being with the staff” seemed to top the list of What did you like best? “The Kenyans” or “Sammy Nyamongo” or Rwandan runner “Alexis Sharangabo” consistently topped the list of who is your favorite staff in questions asked of campers.

Simmons said young American runners seem to think that African runners have some kind of special ability, but by living with them and listening to them and running with them they learn it has more to do with work ethic and dedication.

Last year’s Mountain High Camp had 50 runners, about half male and half female. Simmons said the first week of this year’s camp has about 50 kids signed up and the second session has nearly 100 applicants. Simmons said there is still time for athletes to sign up for either camp.

Activities include:

° Monday — Check in and orientation.

° Tuesday — “Down Under Day,” learn the basis for distance training from the fathers of the sport, Arthur Lydiard and Percy Cerutty.

° Wednesday — Xtreme Day, steeplechase training.

° Thursday — move up the mountains to the 3,500-feet Camp Hope to eat, sleep and train like a Kenyan.

° Friday — Race Day, learn about race preparation including pre-race rituals and pre-race meals with a grand finale Challenge Run to Devil’s Courthouse in the Pisgah National Forest and Blue Ridge Parkway.

For more information about Mountain High Running Camp contact Scott Simmons or Petra Staskova at 828.877.5205 or via email at simmons@minotstateu.edu or visit the website www.mountainhighrunning.com.