One of Anne Gault's first assignments when she became director of marketing for United Way of Genesee County in 1984 was to put on a road race. "A what?" she asked her boss. To Gault, P.R. meant public relations, not personal record. Splits? A dessert with bananas. A 5K? Shorthand for $5,000, not five kilometers. Not knowing where to begin, Gault contacted Flint's most popular running club, the Riverbend Striders. Little did she know it at the time, but a career -- even a marriage -- was born. Gault began helping out at Riverbend Striders' events by publicizing and scoring races, eventually became executive director of the Crim Festival of Races and now works full-time with husband John scoring some of the largest races in North America. For her behind-the-scenes efforts on behalf of running, Gault has been named Michigan Runner's Contributor of the Year. Gault considers herself a fitness runner, getting in a few miles here and there when time permits. She entered races for about three years after hooking up with the Riverbend Striders, getting her time down to about 8:20 pace for a 5K. But she decided racing just wasn't for her. "I love the sport in a different way," she said. "I don't love it as much for participation in the sport itself, but in the organization and management." The Striders were one of the first running clubs in Michigan to regularly score their races by computer, thanks to Gault. In her first few years working with the club, the old pull-tag system was used and she would type up results when she got home from the event. She began scoring by computer in 1989. Along the way, she got to know former Contributor of the Year John Gault, president of the Riverbend Striders. The two were married in 1993 and live in Flushing. In 1996, she became executive director of the Crim, taking the reins of a race that draws 15,000 participants from all around the world. The event continued to grow in numbers and stature during her three years on the job, but the accomplishment she's most proud of had nothing to do with world records and national notoriety. "The Crim is such an important part of Flint," Gault said. "To be able to direct that race was wonderful. It wasn't anything I ever dreamed I would do. "In any job, you want to know what you left behind," she continued. "What I call my Crim legacy is getting the training program started. I wanted to see the sport of running reach out and bring in people, people probably like me, for whom the thought of running never crossed their mind. "Seeing more people involved in that way is the thing that made it meaningful for me. It was a fun group of people. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun." Gault made the difficult decision to leave Crim in 1999 when the race-management business she and John started began to require more and more time and became lucrative enough to make a full-time profession. Gault Race Management scores about 120 races a year, from small local events in the Flint area to major international races. The Gaults can't possibly be at every event in person, so they farm out some of the work to Tony and Debbie Newton of Davison, and brother-in-law Rick and sister Melissa Sochacki. The Gaults also help out long-time race timer Mike Burns at events like the Boston Marathon and Honolulu Marathon. There's little time to enjoy some of these locations once it's time to work, but the Gaults made it a point to leave a few days early for their 16th Honolulu Marathon in early December. "There's stress at race time, because whatever you have to do, you have to do well," Gault said before leaving for Hawaii. "You have to work fast and not make mistakes. "We'll relax for a few days and every day we may do a little bit of work. We always say you may be working, but you're looking outside at the beach. You can take a walk on the beach during your break."

Bill Khan covers running for The Flint Journal. MR