You’ve heard of the song, “The Wind Beneath My Wings.” Well, this isn’t what we’re talking about here. Let’s just call it “the soil beneath his shoes.”
CRR Vic Kaliakin, a civil engineering professor at the University of Delaware, was recently honored with an award for the best technical paper in 2018 by the journal Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology for his contributions to the research of soil modeling.
No doubt, having put in thousands of miles on Creek Road, Kaliakin has seen lots of soil on the road after storms. He’s also picked up a lot on the soles of his shoes over the years of running at Fair Hill on Dec. 31 and portions of the Pen-Del trail north of Creek Road in neighboring Pennsylvania, where he lives. Of course, this has little to do with his geotechnical expertise… or does it?
Kudos to you, Vic.
CRR Diane Kukich, a certified running coach through the Road Runners Club of America, will again be getting UD employees “up and running” this spring through a Couch to 5K running program, a nine-week training program for beginner runners, offered by the University of Delaware Employee Health and Wellbeing.
Sam Parsons, a professional runner from Newark, Del., and son of CRR Christina Parsons and CRR George Parsons, won the 3,000m indoor German National Championship in Leipzig on Saturday. Parsons, who has dual citizenship because of his German-born mother, made the decision last year to compete for her homeland.
On the track, it’s about time—typically all about time. But this is not so true when it comes to CRR Jim Fischer, who has put more time (and love) into the sport of running and racing—as competitor, coach, and community mentor—than anyone else in Delaware. For his latest honor, all we can say here at 
In CRR lore, Fischer was one of the five scoring members on the second-place-finishing Creek Road Runners team in the 1988 Caesar Rodney Half Marathon’s corporate team competition, clocking a 1:19:05. Other scorers that day were CRR Martin Wolfer, CRR Bob Taggart, CRR Mark Deshon, and CRR Steve Cottrell.
The Annual Scott Mackler 5K was contested on October 21. This race continues in memory of CRR Scott Mackler who had battled ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) for years before his death and added significantly to the quest to find a cure, not only through his own research, but through the proceeds from this race—the toughest road 5K in Delaware.
In the men’s field, CRR Ryan German won the 40-49 age group, placing 10th overall in 22:38.