Doug Carroll

Golden Shoe Award

ABOUT THE AWARD

Beyond the finish line, there are those individuals who dedicate their time to make our running community thrive. The Golden Shoe award is intended to acknowledge these selfless contributors who uplift and enrich the lives of runners. The first annual Space Coast Runners Club “Golden Shoe” award was presented at the May 19, 1991 Awards Banquet. The idea for this award was proposed by member, Marty Winkel as a spin off of an award he saw in Runners World Magazine. Nominations are put forth by SCR members each Spring with the award presented at the club’s annual Celebration Night.

These are the guidelines for selecting future recipients of the Golden Shoe award:

Any active member of SCR may submit a candidate along with written rationale
An individual may only win the award one time
The candidate does not have to be a member of Space Coast Runners
Previous recipients will sit in committee to review and select the winner
Committee will report the winner to the SCR Board by April 30th of each year.

2025 Nominations will be accepted in Spring. If you are considering nominating an individual, please Click here for examples of Golden Shoe characteristics. Email your nomination to info@spacecoastrunners.org.

THE GOLDEN SHOE AWARD RECIPIENTS(click on recipient’s name to jump to their nomination)

2024

Donna Arnister

Nominated by Cyndi Bergs, Christy Zieres, Terry Ryan and presented by Cyndi Bergs

You may first notice her bright smile or hear her infectious laugh as she organizes teams of volunteers, sets up the events, and plans the SCR Youth Series race schedule. Donna Bowden Arnister joined the SCR Board, shortly after retiring from teaching. As with all SCR Board Members & volunteers, Donna found a connection to the Space Coast Runners mission to grow the Brevard County running & walking community. In 2021, Donna embraced the opportunity to lead the Youth Series. There could not have been a more perfect opportunity for Donna to bring her years of teaching kids together with engaging them in the love of running. The Youth Series offers free, fun runs (ages twelve and under) at 6 different high school tracks in conjunction with the SCR Runner of the Year series.

Over the past three years under Donna, the Youth series has doubled in the number of participants. In the 2023-2024 season, over 100 kids showed up to participate at each event! Along this journey, Donna has connected with so many families & parents providing them an opportunity to keep their kids
active and connect with each other. Tonight, we celebrate Donna with the Golden Shoe Award. We recognize her exceptional dedication to volunteering, contributions to the SCR Youth Series, and commitment to enrich & grow the running community.

2023

Debbie Wells

Nominated by Brittany Streufert

In the SCR running world, the Golden Shoe Award ranks among one of the highest honors someone can receive. The award recognizes an individual for the work they have done in the running community. I can think of no other more deserving candidate than our former club president.

Debbie Wells is a long standing member of Space Coast Runners, a great supporter of runners and a very hard worker who is and has been dedicated to growing and nurturing the Brevard County running community. Debbie joined the SCR Board of Directors in 2018 and quickly found her voice. She was an advocate of runner safety, promoted running throughout the community with her work as race director of the Running on Island Time 5K and later the Cocoa Beach 2 Mile and by taking on club leadership in a very unexpected fashion and running with it over the next four years.

At the beginning of the 2019 term, the presidency was vacated along with the secretary seat and one director seat. Debbie stepped up to the plate to fill the President’s position and it truly became a huge win for the club. Debbie didn’t just coast as President, she put forth a ton of initiatives and challenges to the BOD to grow, expand and really serve the club members. And then, Covid-19 hit which stopped a lot of things and SCR saw its membership numbers dip to the lowest they had been in over five years.

Debbie worked hard to keep things going for SCR. When deemed safe the club was one of the first group runs back out there on Sundays. Debbie worked with Paul Boucher to design a hands-free attachment that would allow runners to get water or Gatorade from the coolers to help lessen the spread of the virus. Nobody asked Debbie to do that…she just did.

Under Debbie’s presidency the SCR Scholarship was renamed as the SCR Christian Lake Memorial Scholarship Fund. Debbie helped establish a new Board for the scholarship fund and she wrote the by-laws. The scholarship fund has grown immensely over the past 3 years.

During her time on the Board, Debbie advocated for diversity and inclusion. She wanted SCR to touch as many lives as possible in promoting a healthy lifestyle. When the club packed at the Children’s Hunger Project, Debbie was a volunteer. She led the marathon cleanup when no one else would step up to the plate. She was flexible, willing to adapt to change and the club bounced back after the pandemic. Our membership numbers went up even higher than pre-Covid.

Debbie’s dedication and passion for running make her a perfect candidate for the Golden Shoe Award. Below are some of Debbie’s notable contributions.

Race Director & Founding Member of the Running on Island Time 5K in Merritt Island
Team Captain (2019) of the SCR Racing Team and member from 2016 – 2022
Space Coast Runners Board Member 2018 – 2019
Space Coast Runners President 2019 – 2022
Space Coast Marathon Clean Up Lead
SCR Volunteer of the Year 2017
SCR Hydration Crew Member
2020 SCR Spring Training Camp Pacer

She is an accomplished runner of all distances from the mile to ultra running.

2022

Cyndi Bergs

Nominated by Debbie Wells:

Cyndi Bergs has been leading the Sunday water crew for many years. Not only does she know how to mix a mean cooler of Gatorade but she collects volunteer availability each month and juggles the assignments to be sure everything and every weekend is covered. Tonight, I would like to recognize Cyndi on behalf of all our SCR Runners and Walkers who rely on this support every Sunday.

In addition, Cyndi has been committed to assisting at the Space Coast Marathon & Half Marathon year after year. Many of you might recognize Cyndi when you cross the finish line as she has spent hours at the finish coordinating the distribution of the marathon medals and handing them out on race day.

Cyndi has been an active member of the club having served on the SCR Board of Directors for many years as well as holding the position of Club President from 2009 to 2010. She was the race director of the Space Coast Classic when it ran through Windover Farms and has always selflessly contributed to the club when asked.

Her dedication to the SCR Water Stops on River Road, to the Space Coast Marathon & Half Marathon event, and to our club members is recognized tonight for its steadfastness.

2021

Arlene Allen-Buono

Nominated by Jodi Noe:

I would like to nominate Arlene Allen Buono for the Golden Shoe award. Arlene has been an active member of the Brevard running community since 2002. She proudly represents Space Coast Runners and has been a member for many years. She is one of the most supportive people for all runners, especially women, that I know. She loves to encourage women runners of all ages to maximize their potential. Arlene has been a runner since 1970. She keeps active and supports the Brevard community by running in two separate race series. She also motivates and encourages runners to expand their running challenges by participating in races throughout Florida.

Arlene became aware as she participated and talked with other female runners that there was a real need for a tool that could help females of all ages gain confidence to run or walk. She realized when women ran together they not only had fun but felt good about themselves and better about their running abilities. Thus the Space Coast Sole Sisters was born in May 2019. The group began with only 10 members! Through Arlene’s efforts, it has grown into an amazing support group with a current membership of 283 people and 4 administrators. Arlene works tirelessly to ensure all members find others to run with throughout the county. She creates events within the group structured for all running levels. She encourages other members to also create local events which will be inspirational and reach out to all female runners.

Arlene stays current about other events within the Brevard running community and ensures that information is available to boost support for those events. For example, many of the sole sisters joined the SCR New Wave running camp because of Arlene’s enthusiastic recounting of her experiences and overall success as a member of the camp. Not only does Arlene encourage running support among the sole sisters, she advocates that we support each other not only during our good times but more importantly during our difficult times. I feel that Arlene would be a more than worthy recipient of the Golden Shoe award.

She has touched so many ladies with her encouragement, support, kindness and love! I can think of no better person to carry the honor that is associated with the Golden Shoe Award.

2019

Shelley Williams

Nominated by Bob Rall:

One of the cool things about being Presicent is that I get to choose the winner of the Golden Shoe award. The Golden Shoe is presented to a member of the Club who has gone above and beyond.

The winner of the Golden Shoe is one of the hardest working ladies I know. Over the last year or so, she’s become a fixture on the SCR Racing Team. Despite a heavy travel schedule with work, she usually showed up early and helped get the SCR tent set up.

She also served as a Board member for the last couple of years and this year she spearheaded a couple of very important projects which include the Strategic Planning project and the Race Series Committee. The Strategic Planning project saw about a dozen members get together several times to brainstorm and come up with ideas on how to make the club better for you, the members.

The SCR Race Series Committee was one I wanted no part of, but Shelley took it on headfirst. She formed a committee of Board members, Race Directors, and some outspoken club members to come up with the races for the 2019-2020 racing season. Tough process as it’s hard to make everyone happy. Based on some of the comments we’ve heard….not everyone is happy, but I really like the new series and the different distances, locations and challenges that it will bring. Shelley brought it all together, presented to the Board for discussion and a vote.

But the thing I’m most excited about is that despite all the work she has put in over the last year, Shelley showed that she is a glutton for punishment, or more accurately, she showed how much this club means to her. She has stepped up to be the incoming President of Space Coast Runners for the next year. It is my privilege and honor to introduce the winner of this year’s Golden Shoe award to President-elect, Shelley Williams.

2018

Mike Acosta

From Lisa Hamelin:

I would like to nominate Mike Acosta for the Space Coast Runners Golden Shoe Award.

Positive influence to the running community? Check.

Contributions to the running community? Check.

Overall super nice guy? Check.

For those that don’t know, Mike co-founded Viera Pizza in 2004. He sponsors tons of local races through Viera Pizza (SCR series, Up & Running races, Thinga-Ma_Jogger 5K, Excalibur 10 Miler…just to name a few).

He also co-founded Power of Pizza Charities in 2016, which produces the Eat My Crust 5K and Run Run Santa 1 Mile, as well as event managing the Space Coast Classic and Eye of the Dragon.

Power of Pizza Charities/Viera Pizza has donated more than $127,000 to the Brevard County Community, which has included Viera High School Athletics, Special Olympics of Brevard County, Early Steps program and Calvary Chapel’s 412 Youth Missions Outreach.

Mike is a family man – husband with 3 young children, a business man – co-owner of a successful pizza joint, a community-minded man – Power of Pizza and donates a lot of his time and services to various organizations.

He is a five time Fastest CEO Award winner at the Florida Today Corporate 5K, which he runs with his co-workers.

He was inducted into the inaugural Viera High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017 as an outstanding community supporter.

He heads up the Viera Pizza Race Team, whom more often than not, make it to the podium at various races.

Mike is a Space Coast Runners member and is always promoting the organization. He has video running at Viera Pizza, along with signage for SCR.

Mike is always the first one to help out – an example was last year’s Christian Lake Memorial Run. Mike was able to secure food donations from local businesses and bring his crew to help make this tribute run to Christian a positive one for the Lake family.

Mike is truly deserving of this award. We thank him for his continued service and positive efforts that goes towards the running community.

2017

Lisa Hamelin

This nomination for the 2017 Golden Shoe Award is long overdue. Lisa Hamelin has been actively volunteering with Space Coast Runners in a variety of capacities for several years. In spite of a full personal and professional life, Lisa continually volunteers for Space Coast Runners – and in a big way.

From Barbara Linton:

When I think of someone who dives in and embraces new things, I think of Lisa. Years ago, she was roped into trying running by her officemates (the team formerly known as the InfoWenches). Lisa soon became an active participant herself and went on to run her first marathon in 2013. She has also done numerous ½ marathons, as well as triathlons, so we can safely say that she is well and truly hooked.

But more than what Lisa has personally accomplished is what she has done for the running community. She has been the driving force behind fund raisers for runners in need, celebratory gatherings after runs and has been a wonderful training companion and smiling face on the road for many of us in Space Coast Runners. Her contributions to the club are too many to list but they include volunteering at MANY local races, directing the Space Coast Classic 15k and 2 miler for the past few years, acting as Editor of the newsletter and serving on the board of directors as Secretary. She is always working to infuse new ideas into the club and make it the best; a measure of her success is that the SCR Newsletter was voted best in the country at the 2015 RRCA convention.

Lisa deserves the Golden Shoe award for her contributions to the club in general and for her many quiet kindnesses and generosity to individual members. She is truly a gift to SCR.

From Brittany Streufert:

I’m proud to endorse the nomination of Lisa Hamelin for this year’s Golden Shoe Award. As a member of SCR, Lisa has long exemplified an awesome level of commitment to the club, its newsletter and the Space Coast Classic. She clearly recognizes the impact running has made in her life and has made it her mission to “give back” to SCR and the running community.

How does she give back? The list is long. During her tenure on the newsletter staff she helped to redesign the publication which in turn won the RRCA eNewsletter of the Year in 2015. When the editor’s position became available, she stepped up to the plate. Likewise when the Space Coast Classic 15K needed a race director in 2013, once again Lisa volunteered to takeover. She became a member of the SCR board in 2014 and now holds the position of Secretary on the Executive Board. And she’s a wife, mother of three kids and holds a full-time job.

Her enthusiasm motivates others around her to help and I’ve seen it firsthand. Her commitment is real and has been a positive, important factor in SCR’s successes. Our running club needs more volunteers like Lisa Hamelin.

I am happy to present the 2016-2017 Space Coast Runners Golden Shoe Award to our new SCR President, Lisa Hamelin!

2016

R.C. Koontz

It is said that “Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” Some volunteers can also be timeless, which is true of this year’s Golden Show Award winner. Richard Koontz, better know to the club as “RC”, is just one such person.

RC started running in 1978 and progressed to triathlon a year later. His extensive running and triathlon accomplishments, including finishing every Disney Marathon, are a subject for another time. As a member of the Chattahoochee Roadrunners Club, he learned about Space Coast Runners and the Melbourne Marathon from his coach, Roy Bensen. When RC and his wife, Susie move to Brevard County in 1989, they met Harold Tucker and became Space Coast Runenrs.

Dick White, a SCR past-president who nominated RC relayed how meeting him was not only an enriching friendship but how much it means to our club. “We had the good fortune to meet RC and Susie when we moved to Brevard County twenty years ago. Our friendship over the years has provided ample opportunities to witness RC’s generous and giving nature. Yet, his unpretentious manner often causes his contributions to go unnoticed. He has given his time and energy to Space Coast Runners consistently for over 25 years.

When we took over the directorship of the Eye of the Dragon in 2004 and for the following 10 years, our good friend was called on to haul water, tables, and race supplies because he was the only one of us with a pickup truck. He helped with setup at the race site, and did the same for Kathy Ojeda for the years she directed the Space Coast Classic. Additionally, RC could be found before the races cutting up oranges and setting out the food display, and cleaning up afterward. He has since continued to volunteer in this capacity at the Eye of the Dragon.”

An avid cook in his own home, RC shares his culinary skills every New Year’s morning at the Cherie Down Park fun run. For 15 years, Chef Boy RC has served up scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon, and coffee for the runners and walkers ushering in the New Year, prior to his polar bear dip in the ocean.

If you run at River Road on Sunday mornings, you can thank RC for being one of the regulars who puts out the water and Gatorade each week. For the past two years, he has been mixing Gatorade and loading his truck before most of us are even up, to make sure that the first wave of runners have fluids when they hit the 2 mile mark.

On a more personal note, RC’s volunteering extended to pinch hitting as a babysitter. When our daughter, Rachel, was a toddler, he frequently minded her at the races while Mom competed in the SCR series. If you ask him to do anything, RC will do it. He is unassuming, jovial, and always has a quick quip.

Space Coast Runners is fortunate in having such an individual as a club member and friend to all.

2015

Brittany Streufert

The SCR guideline for the Golden Shoe Award is that the individual has a positive influence on the sport of running based on his/her contributions to the community. I believe that the guideline could go one step further and state that the nominee should be a person who gives their time selflessly and without request.

This nominee certainly fulfills that guideline. I have not known this person for a very long time, but I knew the moment I first sat and talked with her at the Special Olympics Appreciation picnic 3 years ago that she was a gem! Brittany Streufert is a gracious and thoughtful person who makes things happen. She has been directing, along with Mike Acosta, the Eat My Crust 5K for 4 years. This race has been a huge success story, largely because of Brittany’s marketing and organizational skills. Her determination has made it an event and not just another 5K!

What has most impressed me about Brittany is her earnest and unsolicited desire to help Space Coast Runners be the Club that we all want it to be. In the last 2 years, Brittany has volunteered and has been working tirelessly behind the scenes on the SCR Newsletter as Design Director – first under Editor Bob Rall, and now Lisa Hamelin. As I am sure they can both attest – Brittany does much more than design! Bob, Lisa, and Brittany all worked hard to put together a great newsletter – worthy of the RRCA National E-Newsletter Award this past year! In addition, Brittany’s social media expertise keeps our club active in the cyber world – a must in today’s society.

Brittany devotes time to attend most SCR Board Meetings, to help gather information to broadcast in the newsletter and social media. When I was going to be gone for 9 months last year and needed volunteers to take over some of the things I had been doing, Brittany stepped right up to the task.

Brittany has also been a pivotal leader in the club’s volunteer and SCM obligations. Her scheduling and organization skills helped ensure the post marathon trash pickup was executed efficiently and effectively.

Brittany continues to come up with fun and creative ways to give back to our members and engage all runners in the Club. She has fun ideas and is not afraid to work hard to get the ball rolling. What is so great about Brittany is that you don’t have to ask for her help, she offers it time and again.

The club continually benefits from Britany’s ingenuity and efforts. Tonight’s Awards event is a direct result of her hard work and dedication as she volunteered countless hours in the planning, formatting and execution of the event. Brittany is definitely deserving of the 2015 Golden Shoe Award.

2014

Doug Carroll

Doug Carroll was nominated for the 2014 SCR Golden Shoe Award for many reasons. As many can attest, Doug has become a staple at at most races in Brevard County.

He truly has a passion for photography and we are so fortunate to have him be especially interested in race photography. He gets out there early in the morning on most weekends so that he can take event photos. He then will touch up the photos, which are typically in the couple hundreds upwards to a thousand images, and then take the time to upload them to Facebook and tag many of them. This is not a paid job for him, he does it because he enjoys it and has developed good friendships from being at races.

Doug’s contributions to our running community are so big and selfless, that it is only fitting that we award him with the Golden Shoe. He enhances our races by providing the participants with great memories that they might not have otherwise been able to capture. Thank you Doug!