What:
City Council Recognition & Award Presentation

When:
Friday, June 22, 2001
10:00 a.m.

Where:
Los Angeles City Council Boardroom, City Hall East, Los Angeles

Who:
Los Angeles City Council, Chief of Police Bernard C. Parks, & the LAPD Women’s Running Team

Why:
To Honor the LAPD Women’s Running Team & Deceased Detective Nancy Dyer for Four Consecutive 1^st Place Victories in the Baker To Vegas 120-Mile Relay Race. To Announce the Nomination of the Women’s Team to the 2002 Winter Olympics Torch Relay Team

Los Angeles - On Friday, June 22, 2001, at 10:00 a.m., the Los Angeles City Council and Chief of Police Bernard C. Parks will honor the Los Angeles Police Department Women’s Running Team for winning the women's category in the recently completed 17^th Annual Baker-to-Vegas 120-Mile Relay Race and for being nominated to participate in the 2002 Winter Olympics Torch Relay Team.

For the last four years and for several years prior, the LAPD Women’s Running Team has consistently demonstrated itself to be among the best female law enforcement running teams in California. The dedication they show to training for and assembling a championship team year after year is testimony to their tenacity, hard work, and talent. Unfortunately, the team lost a stalwart of the team, Detective Nancy Dyer, to Leukemia in 1997. Rather than give up, this 2001 Championship Team dedicated this race to Nancy and once again, emerged victorious in the recently completed 17^th Annual Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay. In addition, the team’s spirit and desire to keep Detective Dyer's memory alive has led them to assemble the resources necessary to create an athletic scholarship fund, which will bare her name.

The Women’s team has also been nominated to participate in the 2002 Winter Olympics as part of the Olympic Torch Relay Team in Salt Lake City Utah. The Olympic Torch Relay, which has come to symbolize the burning of the human spirit and the eternal hope for world peace, was first introduced at the start of the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Therefore, it is only befitting that the award-winning and selfless members of the LAPD Women’s Running Team be nominated to represent the lofty sentiments and ideals of the Olympics in honor of fallen officer and athlete, Nancy Dyer.

For further information regarding this press release or the City Council Award Presentation on Friday June 22, 2001, at 10:00 a.m., please contact Media Relations Section at 213-485-3586.

This press release was prepared by Police Officer Guillermo Campos, Media Relations Section, 213-485-3586.