Main Street
Los Gatan experiences ultimate endurance
By Mary Ann Cook
ULTRAMAN TRIATHLETE: Steve Bartis, a Los Gatos podiatrist, etched out 12th place in the Ultraman World Championship triathlon in Kailua Kona, Hawaii, in late fall. His time was 28 hours, 39 minutes. The Ultraman is the ultimate stress and endurance test in triathlons.
As witness: it consists of a 6.2-mile ocean swim, a 261.4-mile bike ride and a 52.4-mile run. It's a three-day event. Contestants do the swim and 90-mile bike ride the first day, a steep bike ride the second day and a double marathon the third day. Participation is limited to 35 athletes from all over the world.
Bartis was in second place after the swim, which he describes as the most enjoyable part of the action. His time was 2 hours, 45 minutes. He credits Mike Burnett, coach at Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club, with this outstanding time. Twelve miles of the bike ride was a 3,500-foot vertical climb. The downside--the threat of blisters and dehydration.
Bartis has competed in more than 90 triathlons since taking up the challenge in 1983. He is married to Lori Black (Los Gatos High School class of '82) who also competes in Olympic distance and half-Ironman triathlons.
GOLDEN WEEKEND: Joe and Kathy Cusick celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a bang-up weekend earlier this month. They have eight children (three girls, five boys) and 14 grandchildren, so the house was overflowing. Each family filled a page or more, which was collected into a memory book.
Some were photographs, some recipes, some (from a hairdresser daughter-in-law) contained a lock of hair of each family member. On Friday night the daughters cooked dinner, each course being named for a significant event in the couple's life. The salad, for example, was composed of 14 greens (the grandchildren).
On Saturday, there was a party at the Stanford Faculty Club for 124 people. The Cusicks met at Stanford when both were seniors. "We sure waited till the last minute," Kathy says with a grin. On Sunday, it was brunch at Viaggios for the family, after attending church at St. Mary's, natch.
The offspring are spread from Washington, D.C., to Honolulu, with Washington and Oregon states thrown in, so it was a far-flung reunion.
GOOD CITIZEN AWARDS: Here are the winners of the Good Citizens Awards, presented annually by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution during American History Month. High school winners were Annie Weider of Archbishop Mitty High School and Irene Yen of Saratoga High.
Those winners were chosen for scholarship, leadership, community activities and their essays on the topic "Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It." The middle school winner was Laura Kolstad, an eighth-grader at St. Andrew's School, and she was chosen for her leadership, scholarship and activities.
Awards were also given to winners of the American History Essay contest. Essayists were to write as though they were interviewing two signers of the Declaration of Independence for the July 5, 1776, edition of the Philadelphia Gazette.
Eighth-grade winners were Royce Ausich, first, St. Mary's; David Addison, second, Sacred Heart; and Eric Shuffle, third, Sacred Heart. Seventh-grade winners were Joey Pollard-Vithanage, first; Katherine Guerico, second; and Kristina Kirkland, third, all of Sacred Heart.
Sixth-grade winners were Ricky Bose, first; Nick Miller, second; and Katie Atwell, third, all of Sacred Heart.
NEIGHBORLY CLUB: The venerable club We and Our Neighbors celebrated its 110 years with an open house last week. The clubhouse, at the corner of Los Gatos-Almaden Road and Union Avenue, is 92 years old and is listed as a historic landmark for the city of San Jose.
Club members meet every third Saturday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. for "fun, friendship, sharing and giving, to preserve the traditions of local history." Membership is open. For more information call 408.267.8175.
SEARCH FOR WAITON: Harry Blair of LaCrosse, Wis., is trying to get information to Los Gatan Dr. Rudolph Waiton, whose office is on Almendra, about the 27th Troop Carrier Squadron Foundation. Blair is the historian/archivist of that group.
Waiton responded with a postcard from Germany, saying he was on a medical mission and had been for nearly 40 years, but the return address was impossible to read. Blair has tried phoning and writing the Almendra address with no success.
Any help from readers would be appreciated by Blair, whose phone number is 608.788.3240 and address is P.O. Box 582, La Crosse, 54602-0582. His email: humptdump@CenturyTel.net.
CLOSE HARMONY: The Garden City Chorus will present "Harmony Kicks on Route 66" at 2 and 8 p.m. March 2 at the Flint Center, Cupertino. The Gotcha Quartet will be featured. For tickets, which range from, $15 to $30, call 408.235.9744. This 80-man singing group is a nine-time Northern California chorus champion.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
