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McAllister completed his first race in 1982
(BATESVILLE, Ind.) -- A Batesville man reached a rare athletic milestone on Saturday.
58-year-old Ronnie McAllister completed his 1,000 race during the Bulldog Chase 5K.
McAllister says his passion for running was sparked by Mark Wilhelm, who was his cross country coach at South Dearborn High School.
The first race McAllister participated in was the WEBN Night Move race in 1982 while he was in high school.
After graduating, he served in the Air Force from 1984-1988 where he was part of a running club that participated in races in North Carolina and along the east coast.
McAllister moved back to Batesville and his love of running never stopped.
He coached cross country and track at Batesville High School from 1999-2011.
A student-athlete once asked how many races he had ran which led McAllister to reflect and start going through his running logs.
McAllister has won an award in over 900 of the races and won 70 of them outright.
But competing in that amount of races certainly comes at a price.
"There's always minor setbacks, I've had both Achilles tendons surgically detached and reattached. I've had a meniscus tears, I've had numerous strains and sprains, it's just part of the package, you know, as, as we get older we all slow and you just have to figure out a way to stay healthy and keep moving forward," McAllister said.
Completing his 1,000 race at the Bulldog Chase held special meaning. McAllister helped create the fundraising event while he was the cross country coach at Batesville.
Former student-athletes, friends, family and even his beloved coach Mark Wilhelm showed up to congratulate McAllister on Saturday
"It was very touching and gratifying and it made me feel how a small community like Batesville can reach out and wrap their arms around you and make you feel so loved," McAllister said. It's not like we're in a big city where we're all strangers. If there were 300 people there today, I felt like I knew more than 200 of them."
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