Humans of Baldwin: Best of Both Worlds – Outstanding Coach and Running Club Owner

How did Lamar Moore start his own running club at such a young age?

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Photo courtesy of Ava Zarzycki ‘23

Lamar Moore, head coach of Baldwin’s outdoor track team and running club owner.

Lamar Moore, head coach of Baldwin’s outdoor track team and assistant coach of the indoor track team, has had a huge impact on Baldwin’s runners. In the past, he has also served as head coach of Baldwin’s cross country team. 

Coach Lamar has trained runners at Baldwin for five years, but something that many in the Baldwin community don’t know is that he also runs his very own track club, “Moore Elite.” 

Coach Lamar brings a positive attitude and mindset to his athletes every day and inspires athletes to make a career out of something they love.

 

Who inspired you to start running? When did you first start running competitively?

Running was from my family. My mom ran for the University of Richmond and my dad ran for Boston University. I started running when I was nine years old and I’ve been running ever since. In high school and college, I was a sprinter, hurdler, and jumper.

 

Where did you run track in college? How was the experience of being a college athlete?

The transition from high school to college was very humbling. I ran for West Virginia University. Go Mountaineers! I was a multi-athlete my first year, and [then] I [was] redshirted. 

 

When did you realize that you wanted to continue running in the future?

My senior year in high school, making it to Junior Olympics for the first time. It [was] something that was always a big dream of mine. Once I got to college and realized that I could keep up with the bigger kids, I felt like I could definitely see myself running post collegiately.

 

What inspired you to start your own running club? When did this happen?

In 2010, I felt like I wanted to give other post-collegians a better opportunity in the Philadelphia area to train post-collegiately, because after college, in track and field, there aren’t many opportunities, unlike other sports.

 

How did you create your running club? What was the process for this?

The process was very easy. I have a lot of connections in the Philadelphia area as far as track and field, so it was basically just asking friends and figuring out what was the proper paperwork that I needed to file to be a legitimate club owner. 

 

What successes have you had with your club?

We competed at the 115th Millrose Games, which is at the armory in Upper East Side, New York. We got fourth this year, two years ago we got second, and then in 2019, we got first. We ran the number two time of all time, which unfortunately has been broken, and that same season we won Penn Relays. Our men’s team got first in the 4×100, and our women’s team got second. The following year, roles reversed.

 

What is it like running your own club?

It’s very challenging because you deal with different personalities. Not everyone’s going to be a coachable athlete, so you have to pretty much adjust to everyone and their abilities. Over the summers, I write different programs for everybody, whether it’s just running, strength and conditioning, and also just working on everyone’s mental aspect of the sport.

 

How would you describe your running experience as a whole? 

I would say running was kind of just like my first and only love. I tried other sports, but running is just one of those things where you either love it or you hate it, and I love it so much. It got me to college and post collegiate. It’s given me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful students, faculty and friends outside of the sport as well.