Team Ladera’s origins go back to the early 1970’s when a small group of thirtyish friends encountered Kenneth Cooper’s book, Aerobics, and began what Dr. Cooper calls the “lifelong journey” of fitness. A few stumbling attempts at a one mile run revealed what too much gin and late night poker will do to you.
The men involved, all neighbors living in unincorporated Ladera in the hills behind Stanford University, began running in the mornings before work. Soon, spouses and friends joined in a Sunday Morning at the Bank Run and Walk (SMATBRAW).
By the early 80’s, Bay Area races began to appear and SMATBRAW devotees were there. Bay to Breakers, the Golden Gate Half Marathon, and the long running Great Race at Stanford in fall quarter saw SMATRAW entrants.
In 1998, a second generation running daughter, Kristen Farley, upped the ante by proposing that her dad, Nils Nilsson, and his aging running buddies, now all over sixty, should do the LA Marathon to celebrate Nils’ 65th and prove they were not over the hill. This success was followed by another in 2003 at the Napa Valley Marathon, and successive entries at “interesting” marathons in locations such as Boston, Athens, Berlin and Tromso.
In 2010, the Lake Tahoe Marathon Race Week offered a five person marathon relay and the new name of Team Ladera was born. Two father-daughter pairs of Nils and Kristen Nilsson, and Mike and Jennifer Roberts, plus friend Mary Hamilton, competed.
In 2011, the runners for Team Ladera at the Tahoe Marathon Relay included Steve Corbato, Mark Johnson, Jennifer Roberts, Kim Turner and Greg Wood.
As a result of ‘retirements’ of some of the original runners, Team Ladera now has members scattered strategically around the United States. Loosely organized, open-ended and high spirited, Team Ladera continues the SMATBRAW tradition, sharing a love of the outdoors and a desire to keep moving, by whatever mode or speed they can. Humble beginnings have blossomed over forty years into a multi-generational group of friends in not only running, but also walking, cycling, hiking, backpacking, mountain climbing, canoeing, skiing, ski touring, ultra-running, snow camping, bird-watching and many other adventures.