Jaime Ortiz and Roberto “El Chino” Rodriguez Excel in Santa Monica – by Gilbert Varela

Here is an article from the September 1990 Wild Mountain Runner Newsletter. The article proves that the club has always had spirit: 

I am convinced that there is no other running club with the character and color as the Wild Mountain Runners.  I am more convinced that no other club has the combination of character and talent as our club.  But who can best reflect the character of Wild Mountain but Jaime Ortiz and Roberto “El Chino” Rodriguez.On Saturday, the day before the running of the Santa Monica Marathon, Jaime had trained hard under the tutelage of Coach Alonzo.  Any one who knows Jaime knows he always trains hard.  Even during the easy workouts, he manages to get the most out of himself.  The week before Santa Monica, Jaime had run the San Diego Half Marathon and was expected to run Santa Monica at an easy pace.  So Saturday he trained hard and on Sunday he placed fourth with a personal best time of 2:38.  Jaime showed a great deal of heart and strength – proving that this is how a Gato can run.El Chino is another example of the wild Mountain psyche.  When El Chino joined the club, he was just a “regular” runner of “average” talents.  Determined to do well, he started to train regularly and never missed a track workout.  In fact Coach Alonzo constantly prodded him for training better than he competed.  He managed to lower his running time from a 16 minute 5K to the low 15s.  He persevered until he finally broke his own 15 minute barrier, running a 14:54 at the Brentwood 5k.  then comes the Santa Monica Half Marathon and El Chino placed third overall with a fabulous time of 1:09 – a personal best!El Chino has worked hard and has not allowed various “bad” race results to discourage him.  Instead he trained consistently, knowing that at some race it would all pay off.Congratulations to Jaime and Roberto “El Chino”.  Also congratulations to Dino Longo for his 3:07 marathon.  Dino is one of the few who loves the Santa Monica Marathon and is looking to break the 3 hour barrier in the next marathon.  Dino stated that he knew what to expect the second time around the loop.