Welcome to the MOUNTAINGOATS History
- the first 20 years since birth in the year 1982 !

(by John Medina, founder)

The Mountain Goats Running Club started back in 1982 with a few members of the then Santa Monica Athletic Club (SMAC), now known as the Spectrum Club. Along with a couple of my friends Susan Shimabuluro and Bob Davenport, we started exploring some of the ...

The Mountain Goats Running Club started back in 1982 with a few members of the then Santa Monica Athletic Club (SMAC), now known as the Spectrum Club. Along with a couple of my friends Susan Shimabukuro and Bob Davenport, we started exploring some of the trails in the Santa Monica Mountains shortly after taking part in the 1982 "Over the Hill", a 14-mile race organized by Craig Chambers that went from Craig's shoe store in Encino to his apartment in Santa Monica, through beautiful Sullivan Ridge. At the time there were no trail maps or much literature

about the unspoiled Santa Monica Mountains, and I was so impressed with that trail that it drove me to find more like it. As we discovered more mountain trails, our small group’s unscheduled runs became weekly runs and we started running consistently in the evenings during weekdays because I was still coaching the regular SMAC Running Club during the weekends. The very first official "Graduation Run" (yearly event at the end of every season), which culminated in the first complete running season, took place in October 1983, and the winners were ...