Paul Banchero

Paul Banchero (LMJS Webmaster) has been a continuous member of LMJS since 1987. He was the Head Race Director for several years after attending his first Board meeting; he emerged from the meeting a changed man. He has been running since 1970, having been converted from weight lifting to running by Kenneth Cooper’s book on aerobics. He began recreational racing in 1974, and has completed races from 3Ks to marathons. He has a BSEE from UC Berkeley and was in the Biomed Division of Lawrence Berkeley Lab for 20 years, which had relevance to running when the boom hit in 1977 and several biophysics researchers became interested, thereby allowing him to learn just enough about exercise physiology to be dangerous. He was a race director for the in-house LBL Runaround race from 1980 to 1983, but managed to escape doing anything administratively useful during his membership in the Zephyr Athletic Club of Pinole from 1979 to 1987, which brackets ZAC’s creation of the Skyline 50, which he worked several times. When ZAC faded away, he decided to investigate the group of runners going clockwise around Lake Merritt on some Sunday mornings while he ran counter-clockwise; the rest is history. He enjoys trail running.

Len Goldman

Len Goldman (LMJS President) has been a life long runner and started running competitively as a youth. He has raced at every distance from 100 meters to the marathon and is currently ranked as one of the top age group distance runners in the U.S. He became a LMJS member in 1984 and has served on the Board in a variety of positions since 1986. Currently, he is coach of the Piedmont Middle School cross country program, which he started three years ago, and prior to that he founded the Orinda Intermediate School cross country program. He also coaches middle school track and field in the Spring. Len has worked on behalf of "Girls on the Run Bay Area" for the past three years as a grant writer and has raised tens of thousands of dollars for their program. In 2001, Len received the RRCA's Kurt Steiner award for "Children's Development Running" for his work with "Students Run Oakland, " a marathon training program for at-risk teens. He has received two other prestigious awards from the RRCA, Male Master Runner of the Year in 2004 and Club President of the Year in 2006. Len grew up in Indiana, where he competed in high school track and cross country, plus one year freshmen track at Indiana University.

Jack Zakarian

Jack Zakarian (LMJS Treasurer) has been a continuous member of LMJS ever since its founding in 1977. He ran on the first LMJS Tahoe Relay team that same year and has sent an LMJS team to Tahoe every year since, personally running a Tahoe leg on 29 different occasions. If he is in town, he will be at the Fourth Sunday Run. His other favorite running locales are Point Richmond (where he runs at lunch during work), the Lafayette-Moraga Trail, Tilden Park, and pretty much any of the East Bay trails. In addition to a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Jack earned a Certificate in Health & Fitness from the UC Berkeley Extension Program. He enjoys running, as well as studying the scientific aspects of health & fitness.

Karen Andrews

Karen Andrews (LMJS Training Coordinator) ran competitively in high school, and for 3 years in college while earning a BA in English and a coaching certificate at the University of Iowa. Ten years later she returned to school to earn a masters degree in library science from SUNY Albany. After settling in California in 2000, she began running again after many years off. She is now having a blast getting lost on as many of the beautiful East Bay trails as possible and running an assortment of local 5K through half marathon races. Exploring these trails has given her the tools needed to lead our Saturday morning runs, maps in hand. When not running, she can be found at UC Berkeley working as a librarian, or at home with her son, dog, and cat.

John Momper

John Momper (Head Race Director) is a late bloomer when it comes running having gotten the bug in his 50’s. He was introduced to a variety of athletics at an early age as a member of the Sarah Heinz House Boys and Girls Club in his home town of Pittsburgh, PA. On the road to adulthood, John picked up a few bad habits that included smoking which resulted in a 21 year addiction. After relocating to California and shedding the smoking habit in the early 80’s, he renewed his interest in physical exercise and joined a local health club. It wasn’t long before he ventured from the gym to the “road “ and began running around Lake Merritt which eventually led him to LMJS. As an ex-smoker, he is delighted to have recently completed his first half marathon and to have been a member on his first Lake Tahoe Relay Team. When not running, John works as an administrator at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare, is developing a yoga practice thanks to his wife Jeanette, and is living out a childhood fantasy, having taken up tap dancing!

Jim Eckford

Jim Eckford (Vice President) is a native of the U.K. and lives in Oakland. He has a technical job in Internet advertising. He started running in 2007 for fitness, after breaking his wrist in a cycling accident. After running the Bay to Breakers that year, he thirsted for more racing and soon discovered LMJS. After finding that he did better at longer distances, Jim has been training for and running marathons for the past year. He has qualified for the Boston Marathon, and plans to run it in spring 2010. This far, he has resisted the siren call of ultra running. Jim is a regular at the Saturday training runs, and has participated in LMJS relay teams. He runs every day, usually in the early mornings in Alameda and on Bay Farm Island.

Barry Hotchkies

Barry Hotchkies (Volunteer Recognition Coordinator) began running in the early 1980’s when he was travelling a lot for business; sitting in too many conference rooms, eating too many business meals and not seeing any of the sights. So, he started to jog early in the morning and at weekends round places like Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney etc. His first competitive run was the San Francisco Marathon in 2003 and then the Napa Valley Marathon in 2004. He has run three NYC marathons (his favorite) and any number of half marathons and 10k’s. He joined LMJS in 2007 and now regularly runs in the Fourth Sunday races. This year he ran in the Tahoe Marathon relay team. He loves trail running in the East Bay hills, along the Embarcadero and across the Golden Gate Bridge and the LMJS Saturday morning training runs. Barry grew up in Scotland, moving to Montreal, Canada with Eleanor in 1978. Before moving to Oakland in 1997, they lived in Pelham, NY and Potomac, MD. When not running or hiking, he enjoys Scottish Country Dancing and is an avid photographer. Barry is a contract CFO for small and early stage businesses in the Bay Area.

Peter & Patty Murphy

Peter & Patty Murphy (Membership Coordinators) were avid outdoors people early in their relationship, spending as much time hiking and backpacking as they could. After their daughter was born in 2003, their physical activity levels dropped off considerably. In the summer of 2006, Peter suggested that they train for the SF Marathon’s 5K race. The following year they got involved with LMJS and ran the full SF marathon. In the past year, they have focused on trail running, which is like hiking, only faster. Having parents nearby in Oakland means they can get babysitting for their six year old, which they use for running “dates.”