Gotcha! Bobby's athletes surprise him with 25th anniversary tribute

Congratulations Bobby McGee! 25 years a coach... and still inspiring us...

A crowd of athletes ranging from Olympians to beginners surprised their favorite coach yesterday.

Bobby thought he and wife Sarah were taking his new baby boy to show some friends...but lurking in the shrubbery was a bunch of runners and triathletes who trooped in at a suitably inappropriate moment to surprise him. As an informal receiving line formed, poor Bobby was heard to ask "What anniversary are they talking about?" He got the message and was soon choking back a gulp of emotion as his assistant Marci Roschke presented him with an album of words and pictures contributed by athletes and coaches from all over the world. Then totally blew him away with news that a fund already standing at $1000 was underway to allow him and Sarah to take Kincaid to meet his new relations in South Africa, Bobby's country of origin.

A fantastic picture of Bobby on a bicycle alongside a sub-4 minute miler he was training for the Olympics 25 years ago (South Africa was banned, so he never took part), opened the Tribute book. (See pictures here.) The caption reads: "25 years... and still going strong. Happy Anniversary Coach."