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We are fortunate to have two talented coaches: Tom Derderian and Dave Callum. Coaches Tom Derderian and Dave Callum are USATF Level 1 coaches, which means they have been certified by USATF as having a basic knowledge of sprints, endurance events, throws, and jumps.

Tom Derderian's coaching philosophy is demonstrated by his keen interest in developing any athlete who wants to maximize performance toward competitive goals, going one athlete, one workout, one day at a time. Tom believes that achieving such goals is a matter of individual training, since each person is unique, but can be most effectively pursued in a regular training group over a long period of time. "Training partners are the key," Derderian says, "while the coach is around just to keep everyone entertained." He is fond of saying that "the world is a conspiracy to keep you from training." He sees the club and the association of postcollegiate athletes as an organization to fight that conspiracy. "We provide a context wherein serious athletes find one another to create a critical mass that brings an explosion in performance," Derderian says.

In November 2004 Derderian organized a wildly successful talk by esteemed New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard in Boston. Lydiard's distance-based training philosophy influenced GBTC's original coach, Bill Squires, who was Derderian's coach in the mid seventies with teammates Bill Rodgers, Bob Hodge, Pete Pfitzinger, Greg Meyer, Al Salazar, Randy Thomas, Jack Fultz, and all the others who flocked to Boston in those days when GBTC was one of the few serious postcollegiate clubs in the country.

A running success both on and off the roads, Tom's accomplishments include running in the Olympic trials in both 1972 and 1976, numerous New England road championships, a 2:19:04 Boston Marathon in 1975, and authoring the award winning book "The Boston Marathon, The First Century of the World's Premier Running Event (Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, 1996) and "The Boston Marathon: A Century of Blood, Sweat, and Cheers" (Triumph Press, Chicago, 2003), both available through our club store. Derderian ran at the University of Massachusetts and graduated with a degree in English Literature and Journalistic Studies.

Derderian worked for Nike in the 1970s and 80s in product development and design. He earned several U.S. patents for his creative work in footwear and apparel. He has coached at Amherst (MA) High School for one cross-country season in 1977 and for four years at Salem State College.

In addition to coaching the GBTC men, Tom Derderian has been cross-country chairman for the USA Track and Field New England Association and vice president of the organization. Tom is a senior writer for New England Runner magazine. His work has appeared in Runner's World, Running Times, Marathon and Beyond, Track and Field News, and other running publications.

He is married to long-time GBTC member Cynthia Hastings. They have two daughters who have run cross-country and compete occasionally for GBTC. They live in Winthrop, MA.

Tom's email: tderderi@ix.netcom.com.

Coach David Callum assumed the position of coach for sprints, jumps, and throws in the fall of 1999 and has been a critical cog in the success of GBTC's track and field program. Since 1999, his men and women have won eight New England club titles and have set no less than 21 new club records across all of the disciplines under his wing. In 2002, he led the team to a national title at the National USATF Club Championship at the University of Indiana where both his men's and women's teams were victorious. Coach Callum works tirelessly on meet paperwork and travel, enabling the club to go to important competitions and succeed. His group has increased almost ten-fold in the four years he has been leading the sprinters, jumpers, and throwers.

With the increased talent among the sprint and field eventers, Coach Callum takes teams to many big meets across the country. He organizes the spring trips to the Duke Invitational and the highly acclaimed Penn Relays, as well as the annual trip to the Club National meet in Indiana. In 2002, the 4x400 relay, of which Coach Callum was a participant (running third), won its heat at Penn. In years past Coach Callum has accompanied some of the club's elite track members to other meets such as Raleigh Relays, Sea Ray Relays, and the Mt. SAC Invitational.

In high school David competed for the Phillips Academy varsity team and eventually captained his senior indoor squad. He achieved many school records, including the freshman 300 meter intermediate hurdle record, the junior indoor 300 yard record and the all-school 4x100 meter relay record. David went on to run for Boston University's varsity team for four years, participating in several elite championships across the United States. In David's senior year, he ran on the second leg of the 4x100 meter relay which recorded Boston University's second fastest time in school history, 41.27. Graduating with a BA in chemistry, he went on to receive a masters degree in education from Simmons College, and he now teaches science at his alma mater Phillps Academy, where he is also an assistant track and field coach.

Dave's email: david_callum@yahoo.com