Athletically speaking, the year 2007 for Irene “The Mad Doc” Nagle has been filled with her share of heartbreak. On top of the couple of injuries suffered, she has twice had to settle for runner-up in the Athlete of the Month balloting (losing out to Susan “The Great One” Hurrey in the January selection must have really hurt!) Well, Irene’s ship has now come in because she has been selected as the June Athlete of the Month.

This selection was made not for any athletic performance in particular, although Irene ran a gritty race in the Wissahickon Trail Classic in early June under extremely hot and humid conditions. However, it was for her performance organizing the last of Wanderer trail series races in May that the Mad Doc has won her award. Technically, the race she organized was on May 31, but that was close enough for consideration in the June results.

Irene assembled goodie bags for all the runners, most of them personalized to bring out the best in the runner. For Carnage, for instance, there was a sticker of a lean wolf attached to the bag with the exhortation “Awesome!” Everyone felt important! Inside, were all sorts of herbal tea bags to promote health and massage unguents meant to relax muscles. And the course (or we should say, courses) laid out were excellent with several variations depending on how arduous the runner wanted the workout to be. Her management of the race was an award winning performance!

Bringing up the rear in the balloting for June Athlete of the Month was Sharon Tasman. It’s true that pound for pound, ‘Lil Bird is probably the fittest athlete in the club, and this can be demonstrated every week at the Crossfit Philly gym. However, on June 23rd when a long run in the Wissahickon and the Great One’s big 40th birthday bash were both scheduled, Sharon’s decision to instead attend the all-day Kenny Chesney barbeque and concert at the Linc demonstrated a woeful lack of priorities. Apparently, Kenny Chesney is returning to Philadelphia August, and we are expecting Sharon to do a better job then!