April 11 brought the first race in our 2023 $5K Race Series and it did NOT disappoint!
We hit our 150-runner limit four days before race day. However, we had several people dropping during the last few days, and, due to their kindness in letting me know, almost all our waitlisted athletes were able to register and race. THANK YOU to everyone who notified me!
Ben Pare set a new course record with a time of 15:02:89. Ben was actually one of our waitlisted runners and wasn’t able to register until race day.
Gabriella DeLay set a new course record for women with a time of 17:29:42.*
We’ve added a measure to help with race safety. Starting with the April race, both overall and age group placements are determined by chip time. Since the opening stretch of our course is extremely narrow, using chip times instead of gun pr clock time will eliminate athletes feeling that they need to “jockey” for position, since an athlete’s time won’t start until they cross the start line (not when the siren goes off). This will help reduce unintentional elbowing and tripping.
To help athletes warm up properly and run safely, Crazy Running and BreakThrough Physical Therapy have teamed up and will be presenting a coach each month to lead warm-up exercises before the race. In April we had Donnie Cowart of Crazy Running, perhaps the fastest man in NC. Who will they send in May? Get there early to find out and for a 15-20 minute routine that will get the blood flowing and the heart excited about 3.1 miles!
The Helping Hand Project was onsite with some delicious baked treats for sale. THHP is a nonprofit that prints 3D prosthetics for kids for FREE! They have locations on several NC university campuses, including Wake Forest University. Emma Coltoff, WFU campus chapter president, ran a time of 29:59:59. They will be back for the October race and awards party.
Great running by all! See you May 9 for the second race!
Happy Running!
Terry
*The female record was previously reported incorrectly.
**Photos courtesy of Diane Triplett
