Rod Dixon
For 17 years, Rod Dixon was one of the best middle distance runners in the World. He is an Olympic medalist, two time World Cross Country Championship medalist and the 1500m Champion of the United States, France, Great Britain and New Zealand. He ran the fifth fastest time for the 1500m in History in 1974, 3.33.89.
In the Pacific Conference Games, he won two Gold medals and is a two time World Masters Champion.
Rod Dixon won the 1983 New York City Marathon in the tenth fastest time in History, 2.08.59 and was the #1 rated Roadrunner in the United States, he is a four time Olympian and was a Coach for the 1996 Fiji Olympic Team.
Salya Mohamedy
Salya joined the Los Angeles Roadrunners in 1994 to train for the 1995 Los Angeles Marathon and to check off “run a marathon” from her “Must-Do” list. Fifteen years and thirty-three marathons later, she is still involved in the distance running world. To give back to the sport and to the Roadrunners, she served as a Pace Leader for Group 6 for three years and as Senior Pace Leader for two of those years.
During the 2004/2005 season, Salya was promoted to Pace Leader Coach and was in charge of the Run Only and Run/Walk Pace Leaders. She is now concentrating on the Run Only program as well as the administration of Roadrunners. Along with her fellow coaches, she is committed to bringing forth one of the best distance training programs available to the athletes and to elevate the Los Angeles Roadrunners to the highest level.
In 2002, Salya along with seven Pace Leaders and the former LARR head-coach created the Los Angeles Running Club to serve the running community during the off-season from Roadrunners. She served as the President of the Board in 2003/2004 and currently chairs the Public Relations Committee.
Salya feels that distance running is more about the journey rather than reaching the destination and she hopes to remain on this journey for the long-haul. Running at the beautiful Southern California coast during the early hours of a pristine Saturday morning has provided the best form of physical and mental workout for her and she wants to ensure that others have a chance to be part of this incredible experience through the Roadrunner program. Salya attended the University of Southern California and is a huge fan of Trojan Football. She also enjoys traveling off the beaten path, good books, great music, tennis and professional football. She is a gourmet chef in her own kitchen and loves to create delectable desserts. Along with achieving her personal goals in life, she is committed to volunteer work and outreach programs in the Southern California community.
Gary Deitsch
Coach Gary Deitsch brings an extensive running, coaching and professional background to the Los Angeles Roadrunners. Gary started his coaching career in 1968, completing his Master’s Degree in Physical Education at Pepperdine University. After teaching and coaching in the L.A. Unified School District for several years, Gary entered into his family business where he eventually progressed to the position of President and CEO of Westrim Crafts. Gary, while using his coaching and leadership talents, made his business one of the most successful in the country.
Gary has run 21 marathons, including 7 L.A. and 5 Boston. In 1996, he joined the LARR and completed his first marathon. In 1999, he served as the first Pace leader Captain. Gary’s leadership, foresight and coaching skills helped guide the LARR program to its current reputation and making it the outstanding marathon pace group training program in the country.
Gary is married to his wife of 42 years, Barbara, the Run/Walk Coach. They have 2 daughters, Dr. Laurie Lazarou, a Harvard Dental School graduate and Endodontist, and Lindsey Deitsch, current Pace Leader and a recent UC Berkeley graduate and Nutritionist. Son-in-law Nick was also a Pace leader. The Deitsch family has run an accumulation of 50 plus marathons.
Bob Hickey
For the past 18 years, Coach Bob Hickey has been the Walking Coach for the Roadrunners. He is a former race walker and distance coach with the AAU, TAC and USA Track and Field. Bob is a Master’s Track and Field Official and has been an IAAF Race Walk Judge for the past 28 years. Bob is a retired Sergeant from the LAPD, who truly believes that service to the community is integral to a healthy and successful society. He was a member of the LAPD’s relay team that successfully completed 3 major runs across the country, and he was one of the runners who set a Guinness Book World Record Run of 3,871.6 miles in a little over 19 days.
Bob has run and walked in his words, “More than my share of marathons.” He qualified for the Boston Marathon in 1972, with a time of 2:52:00. He was injured shortly after qualifying for Boston and could not train for two and half months. He ran through his fastest 15 miles, following the women’s winner in 1:29:00 and had to fall back. He continued on, walking and still finished in 3:30. His best time walking, which is far from any record, is 4:09. Walking is the longest event in the Olympic Games at 50K and the record is 3:35 range, which is under 7:00 per mile. It would equate to just a little over three (3) hours for a full marathon.
Bob has also done New York, as a guest of Mr. Bill Burke, former President of the L.A. Marathon. He claims that their time was not the fastest, but giving credit due, Dr. Burke never quit, finishing in 5:36:46 for his first marathon.
Pat Connelly had been his coach for forty (40) years and he is and always will be, indebted to him for his leadership and guidance.
Lindsey Goldbloom
Lindsey Goldbloom joined the L.A. Roadrunner program in August 2001 as a participant. After finishing the 2002 Los Angeles Marathon—her first—she decided she wanted to play a more vital role in the LARR Walking Program and approached Coach Hickey with her ideas. Under her leadership, the Walking Program has expanded from two to five pace groups and increased the membership with an impressive number of walkers. Lindsey has trained to improve her racewalking technique with Coaches Bob Hickey, Philip Dunn, Dave McGovern, and Elaine Ward. She has generously shared her knowledge and inspired her fellow Roadrunners, not least by winning the LAM female racewalking division in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Lindsey is married to Jeff Goldbloom and they have two boys, Noah and Alex. Jeff and Lindsey’s mom are both members of the L.A. Roadrunners, and she hopes her sons will participate in the coming years. They have helped at the water stations, and Alex has attended track workouts and completed a 5k race. Noah’s focus has been soccer.
Lindsey has a B.A. from UCLA. Professionally, she is a Human Resources Manager.
Her dedication and leadership, combined with a magnetic personality, have helped make the L.A. Roadrunners’ Walking Program the elite program it is today.
Barbara Deitsch
Barbara has been involved with the L.A. Roadrunners for the past 14 years and has been a pace leader with both Run and Run/Walk Groups. She has run 14 marathons, 6 of which were L.A. and 2 Boston. She has been Chairman of our after-marathon party for the past 8 years, and will do so again in 2010.
This year Barbara will again be Coach of our Run/Walk program and is looking forward to another successful year. Barbara got involved in running because she got tired of waiting around for Gary to finish his marathons and decided she would join him.
Besides running, Barbara plays tennis, loves to travel and enjoys reading. She is the wife of Gary, one of the LARR coaches and lives in Woodland Hills. She and Gary have 2 daughters, Laurie and Lindsey (Lindsey is one of our Senior Pace Leaders of). Laurie and her husband Nick have given us 2 adorable grandchildren, Alex and Sophia.