John joined the Striders in 2010 because he had been doing a lot of strength training and needed to start doing more cardio. John’s old college roommate, Greg Orlofsky, suggested the Striders was a good way to get into running and to meet new people. He originally signed up for a Couch-to-5K program only to have it postponed due to lack of participants or lack of suitable running areas due to a recent blizzard or a lack of participants because of the recent blizzard. Eventually the program was held and from there he made his way into the Next Step: 10K/10M program. One day while he was recovering from an injury at Next Step, Dwight Mikulis, then Vice President of the Striders, talked him into being an assistant coach with him for the Next Step: Half/Full program. 

After a few years of volunteering at different Strider races and Next Step programs, he decided to get more involved and joined the Board of Directors as Director of the Weekly Series. Then he moved on to Vice President and from 2017-2018 served as President of the club.

John soon became essential to nearly every race the club put on. From the formal events to the Weekly Series to the high school cross-country races to the training program time trials, he was the go-to guy for running the start and finish line. He loaded all the equipment and hauled it to the site, ensured it got installed and tested before the race start, worked with the scoring team to see that every single runner would get an accurate finish time, made sure it got all cleaned up and stored, and maintained everything between races. 

John would serve a number of positions on the board, providing his considerable background knowledge and thoughtful insights as Weekly Series Coordinator, Vice President, and President from 2017-2018.

Long days, cold days, rainy days, snowy days, even the occasional gorgeous day, the club counted on John to be there, and he was — and the few times he had a conflict, he’d be on the phone calming down panicked volunteers and providing remote support.

John Bratiotis was inducted to the Hall of Fame at the 2023 Annual Banquet.