This article, written by Meagan Nedlo, first appeared in our May/June 2015 issue. We thought reposting today timely because Hilary Dionne of CCR is racing the Berlin Marathon. Stay tuned for updates.
As most great ideas do, CRAFT Concept Racing came about over the course of several months, many long runs and a few post-race brunches. A handful of my closest running partners and I found ourselves feeling somewhat distanced from the existing team constructs within the Boston running community, while at the same time yearning to cultivate a fresh new dynamic, something we could call our own and shape from the ground up into exactly what we wanted it to be. We also knew we needed support from a vendor partner that would encourage us, inspire us, and outfit us in the best technical apparel on the planet. Fortunately, I just so happen to work for such a company: CRAFT Sportswear, a longstanding industry leader in base layer, running, Nordic, and cycling apparel with a growth strategy focused on the New England run market and a desire to support local athletes. From these compatible visions, CRAFT Concept Racing came to life.
So who exactly are the members of CCR—and what do we want our fledgling team to become? Our core philosophy can best be summed up by our mission statement.
To the founding members of CCR—myself, Mariah Tinger, Larissa Park, Sarah Bard, Katrina Vassallo, Beverly Antunes, Molly Giffen, Diana Bowser and Melanie Schorr—this means we want to encourage and challenge each other as runners, but beyond that, to support each other in all the other facets of our lives that are equally important, if not more so, in comprising our individual identities. We are Olympic Trials qualifiers and All-Americans and course record holders (and even one 2015 national champion—way to put us on the map, Sarah!) but we are also lawyers, doctors, authors, students, new moms. We are strong women who want to be examples within our community and show how powerful and transformative running can be. We want to show how a shared Sunday long run can forge lasting bonds and spark initiatives that transcend any one race or time on the clock.
Of course, we also want to kick some ass. We want to show that you don’t have to be part of a storied athletic organization or be backed by a billion dollar brand to compete among the best. We want you to see CCR athletes toeing the line at everything from the local 5k to the New England Grand Prix Series to the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials and be proud to consider us one of your own. We want to challenge you, to motivate you, to inspire you every day to run just a little bit faster, to reach just a little bit further, to embrace the pain, to enjoy the hard work. You, the Level Legion, already do this for us whether you realize it or not.
To learn more about CRAFT Concept Racing and its members, check out our new web site at www.CRAFTconceptracing.com. To get your hands on some sweet CRAFT apparel, view the spring look book or find a local dealer.
If you would like to read more from our May/June 2015 issue, click here.
If you would like to read from our current issue, click here.
