Penguin World Conference IV
Toronto, Canada
May 24 to 27, 2002The first international Penguin encounter and the first encounter outside of the United States
THANK YOU!
Disclaimer:Before I begin, let me say that it’s impossible to thank enough people for the success of this conference. This is my attempt to recognize all those who contributed in any way to Penguin World Conference IV. If I miss you, let me be the first to apologize. I will make it up to you the next time you visit my city. Promise :-)
— Glenn “Grand Poobah” Gabriel
First, I have to give thanks to the whole PWC4 Organizing Committee (aka the “pwc4board” Yahoo! Group) . . .
Dimetre Alexiou for being my right-hand man on the Waddling to Toronto newsletter and for leading the Greek restaurant group on Ethnic Dinner Night. He wrote many of the “Top 40 Reasons to Visit Toronto.” Dimetre and I graduated from the same journalism class at Ryerson University in Toronto. But we only met again when we saw each other running the Longboat Toronto Island 10K in 2000!
Kelly Ambrose for being my main conference advisor and the heart of the Toronto Penguins. She was one of the first people I turned to for advice and she was a key person in all parts of the conference, including hosting the all-important pre-conference packet stuffing party at her house. Kelly is also the “anchor” of the Tuesday night runs, which meant she was out there every week as our group run leader. I can’t thank Kelly enough for the leadership, time and energy she has given our club since its inception.
Tracy Cross for her tireless efforts in getting donations and helping out with almost every part of the conference. One example of many: She’s the one responsible for the Krispy Kremes and Starbucks coffee at the Saturday morning workshops. Congratulations on your first race! You earned Becky for that one! Trust me: The running only gets better from here!
David “Top Gear” Gegear of London, Ontario, the conference Webmaster extraordinaire, for putting up with my demands! Creating and maintaining a Web site ain’t easy, especially when there are plenty of updates. Dave volunteered for this responsibility at the start of our planning. And we ended up with a great Web site. Good luck with the PWC5 site!
Tracy Gillam of Newmarket, Ontario, for all his help — he was a jack-of-all-trades. He was a driver; he created the great name badges; he worked on press releases; and he was Becky Buckeye’s caretaker during the weekend. Good work, brother! Now let’s get back on the roads :-)
Natasha Lemire-Blair aka “Tash” for all your help leading up to and during conference weekend. Although many in our group had already met her, I only met Tash in person the day before the conference. From the time I saw her at the registration desk, she fit in perfectly! Especially when I needed someone “assertive”! :-) Congratulations on your first half-marathon finish! And thanks for recommending Frank and Trevor’s photography services to the conference!
Kathryn “Hikerwanda” Lye of St. Catharines, Ontario, for securing the Queen City Yacht Club as our banquet location. It was, indeed, the perfect location for the conference finale. Kathryn is one of our original members and also a key member of our organizing group. She regularly makes the 90-minute trek to Toronto to see us. We’ll see you at your place for the annual “Kathryn’s backyard” trail run :-)
Maureen Nicholls for helping out on Ethnic Dinner Night, at the Penguin Aid Station, as a decorator and for her work before and during the conference weekend.
Carlene “Chantingwanda” Paquette of Kanata, Ontario, and her friend, Julia Williams, for making the fabulous Penguin quilt. Thanks also to Carlene for participating in the women’s panel. As John Bingham said, if there’s one Penguin who personifies what making a change is all about, it’s Carlene. Carlene also kept an excellent journal of her half-marathon training that is also archived here.
Maureen “Mau” Pecknold, for creating the PWC4 logo, participating in the women’s panel and helping with registration. Toronto will lose a great Penguin, but Ottawa will be gaining one! Good luck to you, Tony and Clare in your new city!
Helen Stukator for her invaluable help in planning the conference. Not many of you had the chance to meet Helen over the weekend, but she was a key member of our organizing team. Helen does event planning for a living, and she helped us with hotel selection, the Joe Badali’s pasta dinner and the hiring of the bus coach. She also came up with the idea of “Ethnic Dinner Night.” When she joined our group and offered her services to the conference, we were very lucky to have her. Thanks, Helen, for your work. And she’s a fast Penguin (24-minute 5K!), to boot!
Julie Wobbe for leading the Casa Loma tour and Mexican restaurant group. She was the perfect host and a valuable resource throughout the weekend. Whenever we needed a volunteer or extra help, Julie stepped up to the plate. I thank her for doing so. Two honourable mentions:
Lynn Allin of Alabama for her help during the two weeks before the conference and on the weekend itself. Tracy C (your sister) warned us about you and she was right! Your help was invaluable and you definitely are a Toronto Penguin. I hope you visit again soon.
Richard Braeken for his help on Ethnic Dinner Night, at the aid station (yellow fingers!) and as a decorator at the yacht club for the banquet. I met Richard for the first time at Daniel Wellner’s pre-NYCM pasta dinner in 2001. He has become a fixture in our group. If you ever go to dim sum with him, ask to share a plate of chicken feet! :-)
There were also many people involved with the success of the conference, Penguins and non-Penguins:
John “The Penguin” Bingham for being the voice of the Penguins and for creating the “Penguin Brigade.” This would have been impossible without you.
Karen Bingham for her tireless efforts in the day-to-day aspects of the Penguin Brigade. Karen was the first person I turned to when I had questions about John or Waddle On.
Waddle On Sports for their generous contribution of door prizes to the conference.
Toronto Penguins Running Club for their constant help and continual inspiration. Thank you for the Penguin boxer shorts and the life-sized Penguin trophy. Without you, I would never have agreed to take on the PWC4 project.
Brooks Dean Ottati Bruno's Fine Foods Running Room James Cavan Kathryn Schneider, R.M.T. Ann M. Cross Second Cup e load Spenco Hauser Home and Garden Sportees Kochman Family (IL, USA) Starbucks Krispy Kreme Van Nes Flowers, Ltd. MP Derek Lee Waddle On Sports Lyreco Wine Rack MP John McKay www.yourhealthforlife.com The Merchant of Tennis Those individual Penguins who donated items to our conference. Their names are too numerous to mention, but their generosity was essential to the success of our conference.
Sara Kochman and the Kochman family for the Penguin glycerin soap giveaways at the awards banquet. (Thanks for the pin, Bruce!) FYI, Bruce was the first Penguin I ever met in person, back at the 1997 Chicago Marathon Penguin pasta dinner.
Cathy Myers of Texas and Liz Itter of Arizona for their help in the planning phase. These ladies organized the previous three PWCs and gave me guidance in the early stages of PWC4.
Harry Howard (club manager) and Audrey Demares (restaurant manager) of the Queen City Yacht Club on the Toronto Islands for their hard work, help and patience. The Club was the perfect location for our banquet.
Trevor Black and Frank Lemire for their help with the photography on Sunday, May 26. Having gone through the “group photo madness” at previous PWCs, it was nice to have a photo session that was done professionally :-)
Ethnic Dinner Night hosts for your hospitality and expertise: Helen Stukator (Chinese), Tracy Cross & Lynn Allin, Liesha Earle & Myra Mattila (Japanese), Richard Braeken & Julia Kim (Korean), Maryanna Lewyckyj, Shari Hayden & Deb Meier (Hungarian), Dimetre Alexiou & Maureen Nicholls (Greek), David Gegear & Beth Terry (Ethiopian), Julie Wobbe (Mexican), Natasha Lemire-Blair & Frank Lemire (Thai). Thanks to you, the ethnic dinners were a highlight of the weekend!
Penguin Awards Banquet decorators for their work in creating a “Black and White Affair” and atmosphere at the Queen City Yacht Club. Your efforts were admired by all the banquet participants.
Kelly Arnott and the staff of VR Pro for helping us with the Burlington Rock ‘n’ Roll Races. Kelly was my main contact for the race. It was a pleasure volunteering in the months prior and it helped me with organizing the aid station on race Sunday.
The staff of the Courtyard by Marriott - Downtown Toronto (Sean Stewart, Jade Tom, Charlene Keenan, Melanie Drouin) for their assistance.
The volunteers of the Penguin Aid Station, winners of “Best water station” at the Burlington Rock ‘n’ Roll Races! YEAH!
Kelly Ambrose, Toronto
Richard Braeken, Toronto
Jim Craven, Scottsville, NY
Maggie McEwen-Craven, Scottsville, NY
Mary DeMattia, Novi, MI
Glenn Gabriel, Toronto
Tracy Gillam, Newmarket, ON
Toni Hall, Detroit, MI
Marie-Claude Lajoie, Ancienne-Lorette, PQ
Maureen Nicholls, Toronto
Linda Owen, Oakville, ON
Terry Owen, Oakville, ON
June Reedman, Abbotsford, BC
Virginia “Gini” Vance, Southgate, KY
Julie Wobbe, TorontoMaryanna Lewyckyj for her article on John Bingham in the Thursday, May 23, 2002, issue of the Toronto Sun. Thanks for drumming up some publicity for us. And congrats on the Clydesdale award.
Ken Myers for leading the marathon workshop on Saturday morning. Congratulations on your Boston qualifying run! It was a pleasure meeting a legend of the Penguin Brigade once again!
Julia Kim and Harriet Kang for being a part of the women’s forum. Thanks big sisters! :-) I was very happy to see you here.
Lauren Clark of Ohio for the hats!
Michelle Hinson of Tennessee for delivering Becky Buckeye to Toronto on time!
Tonya “Little Lulu” Fischer of Cincinnati for graciously donating the postcards and getting them signed and addressed.
Todd Byers of Long Beach, California, for a moving speech at the Penguin Awards Banquet: You demonstrated what it means to be a Penguin. And you showed why we gave you the spirit award in the first place!
Kecia LiCausi of St. Louis, Missouri, for contributing to the offical brochure. PWC6 St. Louis 2004? ;-)
Jim and Maggie Craven for the ride back to the hotel after the race on Sunday. Thanks for your open offer of help over the weekend.
John Cotham in Bosnia for the Bosnian Penguins!
The staff of the Metro Central YMCA (Stuart Baulch, Jim Codrington and Ken) for their patience and generosity.
Toronto Penguin Jane Warr, who couldn’t attend, but made a generous donation to the conference.
The staff of the Commerce Court Running Room and Refton Blair, area manager, for their donation and for organizing the Saturday morning run.
Anne Wilson of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club for her help with group tickets.
Melodie Gabriel, my sister, for all her help over the weekend and the use of her cell phone! Maybe you’ll finally see her at one of our Toronto group runs!
The staff at Port Union Community Centre in Scarborough, my workplace, for taking my shifts that weekend!
All Penguins for their offers of help over the weekend. I never took those offers for granted, although I may not have had something for you to do at the time! :-) This was a team effort and everyone contributed in some fashion.
Thanks to all the readers of Waddling to Toronto. I can hardly believe that we made it through 40 issues! FYI, Carlene, Jacquie and Ken’s journals will be archived on the Toronto Penguins Web site as well as the “Top 40 Reasons To Visit Toronto.”
Not surprisingly, my final thank yous go to the Waddling to Toronto writers and contributors. Our journal writers: Carlene Paquette, Ken Johnson and Jacquie Ferguson. Our “Top 40” contributors: Dimetre Alexiou, Natasha Lemire-Blair, Helen Stukator, David Gegear and Maryanna Lewyckyj. Thanks for your excellent writing. Thanks for being on time :-) And thanks to everyone who submitted something for the newsletter.
Last word: Thanks for your patience. If I seemed a little preoccupied or busy over the weekend, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I’ll make it up to you the next time you visit our city! Things will be a little less busy. Promise! ;-)
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