Great Men Departed - 2016

Coach John Alire (1977) - an accurate portrayal of
the man though the color is poor

The year just ended was a somber one for Santa Fe's running community due to the passing of two giants: John Alire (1930-2016) passed in May; Dan Maas (1970-2016) left us in September. The trails and outdoors community also lost Dale Ball (1924-2016) who passed in February.

Alire coached the fabled Santa Fe High Cross Country team for more than two decades, 1973-1996. His teams won a combined twelve state titles in this span and he coached four individual champions - Graham ('79), Bigbee ('81), Romero ('87), O'Shea ('91). The 1977 boys team finished the season ranked 3rd nationally by Harrier Magazine, the 1978 boys team won the AAU national championship which happened to be hosted in Albuquerque, and the 1986 girls team won another AAU title in San Francisco. For these successes specifically he was recognized with a mention in Sports Illustrated. I was fortunate to run for him in my formative years just before he left coaching. Alire was an impressive man and I admired him greatly. He will be missed.

1992 Oly Trials - Dan running third, blue vest

Danny Maas was a state champion runner for Santa Fe Prep in the 1980's and later for Adams State College in Alamosa where he was won multiple national championships and eventually broke four minutes in the mile. He still holds the Adams State record in the 1500m. Dan strung together three consecutive titles at the La Luz Trail Run, the last Santa Fean and norteño to win the race. He later competed in two Olympic Trials in the 1500m ('92 and '96), making the finals in the former (8th, 3.39.68). Notably, he is described as being so genuine among friends and so skilled and accomplished in his profession that he is more widely known for these reasons than his success as an athlete. The guy was a legend.

Dale Ball

Dale Ball brought the vision, design, steered the funding, management, and finally the building efforts of his eponymous trail east of town. The Dale Ball Trail system is now an iconic piece of Santa Fe. His efforts established legal public access along nearly the full length of the Santa Fe foothills. That he had the skill and drive to link together more than a dozen parcels of land in the highest valued real estate in town is extraordinary. He then established a land trust, the Santa Fe Conservation Trust, to manage this conserved tract of land (and the trails now bound to it) and others like it.

The accomplishments of these three men will stand on their own for decades to come.

John E. Alire - Obituary
Daniel R. Maas - Obituary
Dale Ball - Obituary


Related Posts:
 - New Mexico's Four Minute Milers
 - The New La Piedra Trail - Dale Ball
 - Micah True (1953-2012)
 - The Tough Guy List
 - The Passing of a Friend - Colin Sutton (1975-2014)

2017 New Mexico Outdoors Calendar

Galisteo Basin

The 2017 Race/Outdoors Calendar has been brought up-to-date (see Tab at top of page ^). The one significant addition for the current year is the return of the U.S. Indoor Track & Field Championships to Albuquerque. U.S. pros had a huge haul of Olympic hardware across several distance events in Rio and will no doubt be gunning for more at this summer's World Champs. U.S. Indoors is the season's first shakeout at the elite level.

Deserving of a highlight - two additions to last year's outdoors calendar that stood out as welcome events to the area race scene were Ultra Santa Fe and the Bull of the Woods Trail Run in Taos. If you couldn't make either event last year you ought to make plans to do so this Fall.

At least one event falls off the calendar, the Ragnar Relays in Angel Fire does not look like it's returning in 2017. An entertaining writeup in Outside published recently comes to mind. I didn't run at Angel Fire either year however the website was on the receiving end of several emails about promoting and volunteering for the event.

Two great events that always come and go before I can get my bearings set for the new year are the Chama Chile Ski Classic and Santa Fe WinterFest (beer!). Fast approaching as I type.

Related Posts:
 - 2017 Outdoors Calendar
 - 2016 Outdoors Calendar
 - 2015 Outdoors Calendar
 - 2013/2014 Outdoors Calendar

Improvements to the Santa Fe River Trail - Jan 2017

The work looking west

Construction on the city's pedestrian underpass along the Acequia Trail has paused for the winter months (resuming in April). However, new improvements have begun on widening the portion of the Santa Fe River Trail along Alameda (east of St. Francis Dr) from sidewalk width (5ft) to pedestrian/bikeway specifications of approximately 10-12ft.

The improvements convert the existing sidewalk into a city trail that allows room for people and bikes passing in opposing directions. This section of the River Trail along Alameda will soon resemble an extension of the newer sections of trail west of St Francis Dr. that wind down past Alto Park and through to Frenchy's Field.

I'm uncertain if plans are to widen and improve all the walkway east to the DeFouri St Bridge? which has itself been scheduled for improvement for years now. One person I spoke with made mention that the trail alignment could cross the river via one of the footbridges and continue east on the south bank. We should see in a few months time.

Update: A recent article on this trail work ran in the SFNMexican this week - just four days after this post was published. One of our City Councilors (Lindell, Dist 1) was publicly complaining about tearing out a working sidewalk and replacing it with something new. Dan Chacon wrote the article, and included loads of detail on why the Councilor was misinformed on the source of funding (not city funds, but voter approved bond funds specifically for improvement of trail infrastructure. The dollars involved include matching federal funds that came in at near 1-to-1), as well as why the improvements were included in the city's approved Transportation and Bicycling Master Plan years ago. He also noted that Lindell literally voted to approve the work. Dan does great work and his attention to detail is admirable.

The new trail/bikeway looking east toward the mountains. 

Lone bicyclist shows the scale of old pathway

Related Posts:
 - Acequia Underpass Groundbreaking (Aug '16)
 - Santa Fe Trail Projects Update (Sep '16)
 - Trail Improvements Page