Chatham Gold Youth Track & Field and Cross Country programs commenced in 1994. Chatham Gold was the first extra-curricular track and running club for youth in grades 3 - 8 in upstate New York. The program has been designed to complement the Morris Memorial's focus on positive youth development, reinforcement of pro-social skills and enhancement of self esteem. Chatham Gold introduces youth to the fun and benefits running through the sports of Track & Field (T&F) and Cross Country (XC). Chatham Gold places emphasis on recognizing personal improvement (PRs) with opportunities to try out new skills in controlled competitive settings. Program founders envisioned the Chatham Gold experience as an opportunity to reinforce young peoples' positive attitudes about healthy life styles.

Chatham Gold is a member club of USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body for track & field and long distance running. Also, Chatham Gold is an affiliate club of the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA), a national group representing the interests of America's 9 million "serious" runners as well as the nation's nearly 15 million fitness runners.

Following the first year of operation, Chatham Gold's chairman met with interested parents in other communities to encourage their commencement of similar programs. His efforts resulted in the development of several other youth running programs in the Capital Region including the Bethlehem, Averill Park, Kinderhook, Peru and Cambridge clubs. Several other communities have requested the technical assistance of the Chatham Gold Chairman.

USATF has designated Chatham Gold as "a model youth program", and features the Chatham Gold program in a "how to" publication designed to guide other communities in starting a similar program. The Road Runners Club of America has also featured Chatham Gold as a model in a soon-to-be-released publication about starting youth running programs. In 1995, Chatham Gold was recognized as an "innovative program" by the Hudson-Mohawk Road Runners Club, an Albany-based organization of 1,500 runners, and was awarded a grant from that organization to enhance program offerings.

The Chatham Gold program includes a spring Track & Field program which registered nearly 420 youth in grades 3 - 8 during its first three seasons. This popular program, which serves as both an alternative and a compliment for other spring-time youth sports (little league and traveling soccer), attracts nearly 20% of the total pool of age-eligible youth in the area.

The fall Cross Country program has included over 100 girls and boys, in grades 3 - 6, over the past three seasons. In 1994, the program included a workshop with Team Stick, a group of world class Kenyan runners who train in the Albany area. A unique element of the cross country season is the "Good Grades-Good Shoes" program, operated in conjunction with Browns Shoe Store in Chatham, which rewards Chatham Gold's runners for earning good school grades during the XC season. Both the T&F and XC programs include intramural and dual meets as well as participation in the USATF Junior Olympics.

An in-door running program, conducted during the winter months, was introduced for high school students last winter and attracts 30 girls and boys for daily after-school workouts. This program fills a void of winter-time running activities for high school students resulting from the lack of a scholastic indoor track program.

A new feature, a Cross Country Camp, was added to the list of Chatham Gold programs during summer 1996. This six week program provided 36 young people, and some of their parents, an opportunity to increase physical fitness through a series of running workshops which taught the basics of using heart rates as a training guide which were combined with long, slow distance running workouts.

While the Chatham Gold programs were not designed as a developmental program for the high school track and cross country teams, several Chatham Gold "graduates" have been very successful in inter-scholastic competition. For the first time ever, the 1996 Chatham High School Girls Varsity Team won the Sectional Meet. 4 of the team's top 5 female runners were introduced to XC through Chatham Gold and two of them were named to 1996 All State high school teams!

Chatham Gold has a large base of volunteers interested in advancing the benefits of running within the Chatham community, as well as introducing the sports of track and cross country to young people. The T&F program is assisted by over 50 adults who serve as coaches, meet officials, timers, event clerks and group leaders.

Chatham Gold's volunteers are experienced in hosting large scale running events. For example, Chatham Gold successfully hosted an Invitational Track Meet with over 300 participants and 10 visiting New York City youth clubs in 1995. That event required the coordination of nearly 100 event volunteers as well as coordination with outside organizations, governmental entities and the press. In 1995 Chatham Gold also sponsored an "I Did It" Field Day, in cooperation with the Spencertown Academy and Kinderhook Elks. That event introduced 125 youth from three local school districts to various athletic and arts activities. Chatham Gold also organized and hosted a series of weekly community Fun Runs/Walks during the summer of 1995 which attracted a faithful group of local runners and fitness walkers.

Mark D. French is program founder and chairman and will serve as Race Director for the proposed race. Co-organizers and members of Chatham Gold's Core Group of volunteers include Bruce Sarro who is the Chatham high school varsity boys cross country and track coach, a well as the health instructor at the middle school. Marcia Sarro also volunteers as a Core Group member. She is a certified Physical Education teacher, high school T&F and XC coach and avid athlete.

Richard Dodge, MD, an emergency room physician at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA is also a co-organizer. Dr. Dodge is a an active sports enthusiast and tri-athlete Cindy Dodge, a physical therapist rounds out the Core Group and is a physical therapist. She too is an avid athlete. Both Richard and Cindy are prominent in Chatham's various youth sports programs as coaches and organizers.

Through hosting events, helping to start other youth running programs and having youth participate in local road races, Chatham Gold has become well known and has an excellent reputation throughout organized running circles in upstate New York, as well as with the youth running programs in New York City. Program volunteers will use these relationships for promotion of the Hunt Country 5K road race.