In 1974, Andy Beardsley was 10 years old and new to Anchorage. He was figuring out his way around his new school, Rogers Park Elementary, when he encountered Larsen Klingel walking down the middle of the hallway. Larsen is hard to miss; not only does he have a big personality but he also has cerebral palsy and he walks with crutches. They soon became fast friends and had many adventures in the wild frontier of Anchorage in the 70s and 80s. They remained friends after college, when Andy moved to Maine and Larsen moved to Homer. Then several years ago, Andy, who had always been a competitive runner, decided they should do the Boston Marathon together. But you have to qualify first and you don’t get a break on your qualifying time if you are pushing another participant. Their journey to qualify and then run in what was arguably the worst weather ever at a Boston Marathon, got the attention of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. In April, they were awarded the Trajan Langdon Award for leadership, sportsmanship and inspiration for their 2018 Boston Marathon journey.
Join us for a discussion with Larsen and Andy about being kids in Anchorage in the 1970s, the importance of life-long friendships that include time in the outdoors together, and how they trained and prepared for the Boston Marathon.
GUESTS:
Segment 1: Larsen Klingel and Andy Beardsley
LINKS:
BROADCAST: Thursday, May 23rd, 2019. 2:00 pm – 3:00 p.m. AKT
REPEAT BROADCAST: Thursday, May 23rd, 2019. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT
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Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs.
After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
