NOVA

2011 NOVA Board of Directors:

Co-Presidents: Samantha Kirby Cole and Mark Drosky
Vice President: Amanda Williams
Treasurer: Jay Duffy
Membership Coordinator: Andresa Hart
Volunteer Coordinator: Lynn Connors

 

Samantha Kirby Cole, Co-President

Samantha grew up in Westchester, N.Y. She moved to Arlington, Virginia in 1997 where she currently resides with her husband Thom. In 1998 she joined NOVA RC after meeting a NOVA member at a race at Haines Point. That race was Samantha’s first race in eight years. When she joined NOVA RC she ran in group three for several years and slowly moved up to group one. Samantha’s Running career started when she was six years old. She wanted to run on the local track club for kids because she wanted to be like her older brothers. In high school she ran in nearly last place on the cross-country team. By her junior year she had made it to the New York cross-country state meet. That same year she started competing in the mile in track and field and ran her fastest mile time to date, 5:07. She went on to compete in cross-country and track in college but didn’t take running as seriously in college as she did socializing. Today she is a serious and avid runner. Her favorite distances are 5k (PR 18:48) and Marathons (PR 2:59.50). She has a Bachelors of Science from Muskingum College in Ohio. She is a Certified Personal Trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine. She has been a personal trainer for the past 9 years in the Northern Virginia Area. She is looking forward to giving back to the club the enjoyment that it has given her over the past 13 years. She looks forward to planning more social runs for the upcoming year. NOVA RC has fantastic board members and she feels that together we can make the club fun and memorable for our members.

Mark Drosky , Co-President

Mark was born in Kittery, Maine, and has been a NOVA member since 2000. He began running cross country in High School, as a way to keep in shape for the wrestling team. Mark wrestled in the 98 pound weight division as a Senior.

His running career blossomed after high school. Mark's notable PR's are as follows: marathon: 2:41:16, half-marathon: 1:15:03, 10K: 34:05, 5k: 16:45 and the mile: 4:45. He is always inspired by his younger brother, Alan. Al was an All-American collegiate miler and has been coaching track and field at his Alma Mater, Georgia Tech, since 1990.

Mark has worked for the Federal Government, as a Printer, for the past twenty years.

He was class clown of his high school senior class.

Mark's been told that he has a unique running style.

His favorite races are the Marine Corps Marathon, Rockville Rotary 8k, Ft. McHenry Tunnel 5k and Pacer's April Friday Nite 5k series.

Mark ran his 1st Boston Marathon in 1983 and is very excited about racing it again, this coming April.

He owns a 22 year running streak (has not missed a day, even when running a fever). That and $4 will get him a cup of coffee.

Mark's been told recently that he resembles "Clint Eastwood".

Don't be shy, if you see Mark on the track, please say hello.

 

 

Amanda Williams, Vice President

Amanda is a native and current resident of Alexandria, VA.  She has been a member of the NOVA Running Club since January 2009, but has become more involved in the club by designing and sending out the weekly newsletter, administering the 2010 survey and became the VP in May 2010.   

Amanda’s running career began at West Potomac High School in Alexandria, VA where she ran cross country and track all 4 years in high school (1996-2000).  Amanda competed at the VA State Cross Country Championships in November 1999 and again at the regional level in 2000, when she was also the Girls Cross Country Team Captain.  Her PR was 19:07 at the Burke Lake 2.98mi course.  She also ran the 4x800, mile and 2-mile in Track & Field, with a 5:28mi PR.  Though Amanda chose not to compete at the collegiate level, she has been racing ever since high school, completing 2 half marathons with many more to come! Amanda’s other interests include cooking, traveling and spending time outdoors with friends.

Amanda holds a Bachelor’s in Geographical Sciences from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA and a Master’s in Marine Science from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.  Currently, Amanda works as a Marine Science Geographic Information Systems Analyst for the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation in Landover, Maryland. Her job includes international travel to conduct scuba-related coral reef research surveys, as well as in-house data analysis.

Amanda’s motivation to run comes from both personal health initiatives and involvement in the running club. She hopes to stay active with the NOVA Running Club once her duties as VP end in an effort to keep others in the running community inspired.

 

Jay Duffy, Treasurer

Jay is a native of Warwick RI.  He was born on a Friday the 13th, has an 18 year old black cat named Phildippides,nd likes to walk under ladders.

After graduating from Brown University, he moved to Arlington where he has lived since 1972.

Jay was also Nova treasurer in 2003.

He has been running since junior high school and has been a member of  NOVA since 1980.

Jay is an avid volunteer and you can see him working at mostly all the Nova events in our community.

In addition to running, he also enjoys riding his bike on the W&OD Trail and attending Springsteen concerts (about 30 times).

Jay has being working as a program analyst with the Treasury Department for 35 years.

 

Andresa Hart, Membership Director

Andresa joined Nova in 1997 and since has been working with the club’s Board in any needed capacity: Social Committee member, Vice President and Membership Director for 2 terms. She was Nova’s President in 2006 and 2007.

She started running in high school since she joined the basketball team of her school, being the only female playing with the guys. She also played in soccer and volleyball teams, but running on the streets of her native Asuncion – Paraguay was her favorite thing to do.
Her greatest achievement as a runner is having completed several marathons and ultra marathons.  She also has 2 JFK 50 Milers under her belt.

Andresa is member of 4 running clubs and finds time to volunteer/run and support her other running clubs and other's events in our community. She is co-founder of the local popular PR running group, which is lead by her friend Phillip Davis.

Andresa is married to Mike Hart and has 2 beautiful smart daughters.

She works with a team of systems engineers in an International Bank. She is also an Early Childhood Education Specialist.

 

Lynn Connors, Volunteer Coordinator

Lynn serves in the Armed Forces.

Lynn has been a proud member of NOVA for the past two years. The club appealed to her because of the people and the support they provide to the running community.

She participates in the Tuesday track workouts provided by the club and has found that the workouts really improved her running and they can be a lot of fun!

Lynn enjoys being active in volunteering at the local races as a course marshal or a water point assistant. And she loves to cheer on the runners!

Lynn has been running for about 20+ years and like lots of runners she is not fast but have endurance. Her most exciting race was a half-marathon at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo in 2002. She ran it under 2 hours and thought I was hot stuff!!

Her goal is to run more races. She also practices ice-skating!!!

 

Proud member of the Road Runners Club of America