Member of the Month: Dave Kliphon!

For a whole lot of reasons, the Bohemia Track Club has been enhanced by the arrival of Dave Kliphon. Sponsored by our first member of the month, Ultra legend Rudy Afanador, Dave Kliphon represents that bold new breed of fleetfooted runners with the blustery braggadocio of Joltin' Joe DiMaggio or Lou Gehrig [OK, OK, each Yankee legend was noted for never bragging about their accomplishments]. Dave Kliphon may not tell you this, because of his good-natured, reliable demeanor, but he has often borne the coveted title of-- Fastest Runner in the Bohemia Track Club.

Much more remarkable, he toys with distances so vast and fearless that most of us except Ultra-Rudy simply shudder at his pluck and determination. [Whenever I get the urge to run an UltraMarathon, I lie down until it goes away]. A Dave K. portfolio includes a 3rd overall in ULTRATOUGH CENTRAL PARK last fall in the Kurt Steiner 50K (31.1 miles, 3:56) and a 14th overall in Feb. '99 in the Empire State Building Run-Up [13:05, despite getting placed in the 2nd wave]. And how's this for Dave K. modesty? When I asked this self-effacing engineer about his time at the gruelish Cow Harbor 10K last fall, he at first said "37:45." Wait a minute, I said, and consulted Islandwide Runner; seems Dave had edged out teammate Bob Clasen by one second: 35:47 to 35:48. Harrumph, two entire modest minutes. That's the kind of guy Dave is; he forgets his own glory to bask with his many friends in their own.

Born in Holbrook in 1964, Dave attended St. Anthony's High School, the Catholic track & X-C power of Long Island. He ran in only one track meet--a 200M dash, and actually spent more time on sports journalism with the school paper than on his own running prowess and progress. From high school Dave attended Cooper Union in the East Village, majoring in electrical engineering. Dave has three degrees: a bachelors and masters from Cooper Union, plus a valuable M.B.A. from Dowling. In this migratory and mobile society of vagabonding nomads, Dave has managed the near-impossible: he has returned to live and work in his own community; indeed, when his parents moved to Wildwood, N.J., to both teach there, Dave bought their home in Holbrook. He has an older brother Scott who is a recreational runner, and a sister Jill.

Cooper Union caused Dave to become a runner. Not only did Cooper Union founder Peter Cooper invent JELLO, and invent one of the first locomotives, the Tom Thumb, but Cooper also invented the I-Beam via the rail, which is half an I-Beam. Without the founder of Dave's school, the Big Apple's tallest building, unsupported by steel, might still be only seven stories high. [Pete Cooper, Dearborn High '61, was the captain of Maury Dean's cross-country team, too, but he was another guy]. Anyhow, Dave started plodding around Washington Square to run off steam: "I sit at a desk all day," he says, "and I have a great job working with software systems, so I had to get some exercise. Poverty created my need to run, for the grad student's life is a no-frills adventure."

Plod, plod, plod. Little did Dave realize that he would someday eclipse many of the yesteryear high school superstars who turned other high school harriers' Sunken Meadow ambitions to yellow Jello. Fellow Bohemians helped. That's what friends are for. We runners do team sports like Ocean-to-Sound's Relay, and Dave was impressed into service with us for that adventure. In a sport where many of our best friends are also our best rivals, Dave K. proves that friendship truly takes the golden trophy, turning the "winning is everything" trinkets to tin. Dave's Bohemian cheering section includes fine fellow runners and coworkers like Chen Ko [who easily womps the 10K 40-min. demon], Chris Skoldberg, Ed Carroll, and Joe Mannino. Dave is also one of those illustrious hill-conquerors who braves the sunrise gloaming, the doberman patrol, and Cordwood Hill for those fateful "River Rat" excursions of 14 Sunday miles or so, along with Dick Murphy.

Dave is also an avid biker, and swims once a week at the Holbrook YMCA, where our paths often cross. He's also joined John Pekarik's Orienteering Crew, a subset of hotfooted-harrier stars who brave the tickish wilds of Caumsett and upstate meadows and gleaming glades.

Dave Kliphon's service to the Bohemia Track Club goes far beyond the kudos he's received for the speedy things he's done--like winning the Plainview 50K OVERALL in 1997 in 3:39. Through facile wizardry with computers, our club's Bob's Store 5-Miler was streamlined for instant results, saving a lot of work for club members who'd long toiled with the travail of everything from popsicle sticks to huge poster boards. Not only that, Dave's computer savvy ballooned into our own Web Site, www.BTC.org. The Dave Kliphon 'Webmaster' system brings us results and Members of the Month, like this one--which extends our road network of running trails into cyberspace.

Above and beyond the call of duty, Dave Kliphon has extended his St. Anthony's sportsbeat background into this BTC Member of the Month feature to complement Estella Clasen and Mike Service's excellent work on the Bohemia Track Club Free Press. [By the way, our newsletter's name comes to us from my mother, Liz Dean (1908-97), reporter for the Detroit Free Press before I was born]. Many of our monthly members evolve into a sprightly 1250 word theme, and no one researches his topic with more well-organized preparation than Dave Kliphon. Volunteering is an important part of our racing experience, and volunteering takes many unique forms, like writing and giving blood, which are not all that far apart. To truly appreciate what Dave does for us with this feature, let me suggest giving him a month off every year at least, and have other members write this column--I know you'll appreciate his contribution at least five times as much as you already do. So Dave's BTC service runs to computer results streamlining, a state-of-the art BTC Web Site, and this fab feature on the fleetfooted flyers of Bohemia.

Now let's get back to the superstar stuff. Dave's marathon PR was set in Philadelphia in 1997 with a 2:51; any of us who've ever brushed the 3-hour barrier [like speediest Jay S.] can appreciate this supersonic 6:30 pace. Dave has run Boston four times, with a 3:02 no doubt due to a brigade of burly bandits who lopped off 2:01 minutes of his effort because he had to run around them. Dave's 5K dash distances aren't too shabby either, with a 17:15 P.R. in a Katz race. So basically, Dave runs anything from a 5K to 50K, and beyond, at warp speed. He even wins trophies at places like Cow Harbor, where his age group ought to be arrested for speeding.

Dave's weirdest race? A hundred-miler, sort of. Actually, he signed up for one third of it, with Rudy Afanador and an unnamed BTC speedster to run legs of 33 1/3 miles. The speedster's transportation got transferred somehow, and Rudy decided to actually run two legs, or 66.66666667 miles. Heralded as one of the most superhuman feats in Long Island running history, Rudy's overall victory would never have come true if it weren't for the long, swift strides of six-foot, 155-pound Dave Kliphon, serving as the teammate everybody wants on their side.

Whenever you check the race results, you'll see D.K.'s name at or near the top. Like Bob Clasen, Mike Service, and some others with such incredible natural talent that they can run three times a week and still break the sound barrier, Dave's winter maintenance program involves light mileage; in deep winter, sometimes he only runs twice during the week from work [lunch hour, with Chen Ko and Chris Skoldberg], and does a long run on the weekend. Total? Maybe 35 miles. One thing Dave and I agreed we both loved was that Earned Couch Potato Stretch-Out. After a 14-miler, it's great to go home, crunch the munchies, and sip the seltzer--and watch other athletes crash into each other, smash home runs, or swish the hoop.

Dave's hobbies include a clamming party at Davis Park with college pals, plus a wine-tasting L.I. annual extravaganza, and a pilgrimage to the old McSorley's Ale House on 7th St.in the Village.

It's good to know that although many of us are simply striving now for age-group PR's, Dave Kliphon and the Young Bohemians still seek true PR's--and that their potential is still not totally tapped. And most of all, Dave is unswayed by persuasive penguins plodding along behind him: In the 1998 L.I. Canon Marathon, where Dave at 2:54 finished 12th overall, he was shadowed by some dude with prehistoric purple Nike Duellists. The dude was headed for the 10.6-mile turnoff for the easier HALF Marathon. "Wouldn't it be easier," chortled the dude to Dave ten yards ahead, "just to cut left with me up this hill? Then you've only got 2 1/2 more EASY miles??" Like . . . . why run a whole marathon when you can run an easier HALF?" Dave Kliphon just turned around, flashed that blue-eyed Iowa smile, and calmly replied with his engineer's determination: "No, thanks, I've got to finish my race."

The purple-footed dude scampered up the little green embankment to his own 1:23:25 . . . and he watched Dave Kliphon wrestle the marathon, the horizon, and glory.

Dave's record? Three wins, zero defeats.