The club has humble beginnings, as I began showing up at Guilderland Sunday recreational runs organized by Doug Bowdon, a GE engineer. Doug was an enthusiastic runner who laid out course options on rural low traffic roads and set up water and Gatorade stations along the course. I brought my new dating partner Emily Bryans to these Sunday runs, but the group consisted of mostly men who either worked at GE or GE affiliates or were independent business men. The few women who showed up included 30 year old GE scientist Judy Guzzo, and a manager in the Albany Banking industry, Megan Leitzinger. These men quickly realized the above average athletic talent of this small group of women, Emily, Megan and Judy, and running conversations led to Business partners Ray and Pate Newark agreeing to sponsor a women’s athletic club. This was partially in response to other athletic clubs that had formed, including the Adirondack Running club (men only) and a coed club formed by area coach Jim Bowles named Utopia. So Sunday recreational runs in the years of 1998 through 2000 led to the official forming of the Willow Street Athletic Club for women. It was named Willow Street, since this was the staging area Road in Guilderland where the recreational runs started and ended . Shortly after, Zach Yannone asked the sponsors to add a men’s team and Zach and Emily were named the first captains.
The Running of the Green (Island) 4m race was a new competitive race formed in 2000, a joint venture between USATF Adirondack and the HMRRC running Club held in early March. After the inaugural year (200 showed up), the race added USATF team competition and teams like Utopia, Adirondack Running Club and Willow Street chose to kick off the 2001 race schedule with this competitive event. That race was followed by the Kingston Classic 10K, a much larger regional race held in late April, that drew competitive teams like the Syracuse Chargers, and many strong runners from New York’s southern tier and West Chester County. That event was followed by the National championship Freihofer Run for Women, typically held around June 1. Lori Hewig, a national class women racer who recently turned 40, decided to join the Willow Street Women’s team just prior to the FRW in 2021 and elevated the team profile for the next 2 years before moving to New Mexico. The fledgling WSAC team bonded under captain Emily Bryans who used that early race schedule as a template for years to come. The WSAC would seek out a few travel races to compete against regional competition, while supporting local competitive events that offered team competition, and offered equal prizes and opportunities for women.
Early on, the team chose to grow under Emily’s guidance to include masters athletes (over 40) once Lori moved away. The first group of masters athletes to join, included Anne Benson and Beth Stalker, along with Martha Degrazia. There were others who briefly joined like Linda Kimmey and Karen Mohr , but Anne, Beth and Martha have remained with the team through the present years and continue to compete at a national class level into their late 50’s and 60’s. An important person early on was Shelly Binsfield,(age 30) a friend of Anne Benson’s who agreed to join WSAC and help with Administrative functions as the team grew to about a dozen runners. Shelly created a team website and helped with submitting entries into team races and other important organizing functions.
In the ensuing years, Emily continued to look for travel races that offered Team competition, and fortunately found two races (Syracuse Festival of Races 5K- hosted the National Masters Championships for men and women in separate races; and the Bridge of Flowers 10K race in Shelburn Falls Ma, that offered a unique opportunity for the team to race against strong New England Teams. Emily and Judy had turned age 40, and joined Anne, Beth and Martha to travel to these races. Two important additions during this time were Lori Kingsley and Nancy Nicholson who both excelled from age 35 to age 50+ and helped anchor these amazingly talented teams.
Over the years the team has also been an option for post collegiate students living temporarily in the region while they attended medical school. Kara Lynne Kerr, Liz Paddock, Catie Meyer and Kristina Gracey all joined the team and added to the team success for a few years before moving and starting their medical careers.
The general theme of the team, is to share running with a talented peer group, to support local races, to have fun at travel races, to share the highs and lows of athletic competition and motivate one and other to strive to stay healthy and reach individual and team goals.
The Willow Street AC fills a unique niche in the capital region, as typical top level athletic talent will join national ranked teams, with goals of turning professional, or making National or Olympic Teams. These individuals often have to relocate to top level training hubs , i.e. Flagstaff AZ, Boston, NY, or the midwest (Hanson’s). WSAC runners have above average talent and many are national class runners but they also prioritize successful careers, raising families and enjoy living locally. Running is important in their lives, and can be a positive release during ever increasing stressful times. Good health is so important as one ages, as is stress outlets and enduring friendships that have resulted from this team celebrating 25 years in 2025. Running remains important in their lives, yet it is not their whole lives. The byproduct of enduring health and friendships with competitive shared experiences and memories... make this WSAC team SO special.
Vince Juliano
Husband of first WSAC founding member and former Team Captain Emily Bryans
Emily remains a member of the team and races on occasion while staying connected through years of friendships with many runners on the team.
