LITTLE ROCK — The world’s first female Olympic marathon champ, Joan Benoit Samuelson, will light up the annual Firecracker Fast 5K at 7:30 a.m. Saturday in Little Rock.
Despite being 52 and having earned her encyclopedia entry more than 25 years ago, she’s still a contender on the national scale. In April, she set a U.S. age-group record at the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run in the nation’s capital. Her time, 60:52, outpaced all the women her age and also all the forty somethings.
She’ll no doubt be one of the first women to fly down Kavanaugh Boulevard on Saturday among little clumps of amazingly scrawny men, and if your feet move fast enough, you might spot her head bobbing away off in front of you. Surely anyone who can keep her in view for long will earn one of the 200 coveted Firecracker awards (100 for men and 100 for women) handed to the fastest finishers outside War Memorial Stadium.
But Arkansans won’t have to run fast to catch up with Benoit Samuelson in this, her second visit to the Firecracker. The Maine resident will hang around Little Rock three days.
For instance, she’ll lead a free fun run at 6 p.m. Thursday in Murray Park. Yes, walkers are invited. And that would be a likely occasion for politely inquiring how she likes our lovely heat and humidity.
Gary Smith, owner of the Easy Runner store, which conducts the race, says she’ll also meet his customers in the shop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 6 p.m. Friday.
After that, she’ll stroll to a nearby storefront for a free reception to which you are invited. Show up at 5:45 p.m. and employees will walk you to her.
“She’s going to talk just a little while,” Smith says. “And she’s supposed to be a great speaker.”
She’ll also answer questions, so please be thinking of something smarter to ask than “Hot enough for ya?” Don’t shame us in front of the famous Yankee lady.
Sweat
About that fun run Thursday ... 6 p.m.’s the time of day that Easy Runner’s first pre-Firecracker training program has been meeting twice a week for eight weeks. Coach Hobbit Singleton just shakes her head when asked how it’s going and what she has learned about participants.
“I know that these people are crazy, and they’ve been doing speedwork at 5:20 at night and at 6 o’clock at night,” she says. “We have a little core group of 10 to 20 ... they have trained their little hearts out doing speedwork in the hot.
“Some of them are brand new to running and walking, and some are my babies from [the Little Rock Marathon’s] Saturday morning runs who have decided they’re going to do something a little different.”
Singleton says Thursday’s run will begin near the pavilions area and will probably use a popular 5K route that runs back and forth over the Big Dam Bridge. She hopes so, anyway, because she plans to be waiting on the north shore at the turnaround for that route, holding ice water.
More information is at www.arkansasrunner.com, at (501) 221-0017 and on the Easy Runner Facebook page.
Fireworks
Other cities around the state also plan to tie on running shoes when residents gather to celebrate the holiday.
In western Arkansas near Fort Smith, Greenwood’s Freedomfest 5K begins in the town square at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Details of the full festival, from its 6 a.m. pancakes through the daylight games and worship service to the evening’s music and fireworks, are online at www.greenwoodar.org.
More information is at info@greenwoodchamber.net and (479) 996-6357.
Thirty minutes later Saturday, Rogers’ youngest runners will toe the line in Lake Atalanta Park for a half-mile kiddy fun run that precedes the annual Firecracker 5K. At 8:20 a.m. the 3.1-miler begins, with a route that (thank goodness) has declared independence from a rather huge hill known locally as The Eliminator.
After the race comes more freedom, in the form of free pancakes.
Registration costs $10 for the kids run, $25 for the 5K ($30 on race day), and a form is online at www.fccrogers.org. Packet pickup, registration and hot dogs will be available from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at First Christian Church, 905 S. 13th St. in Rogers.
In Jonesboro, the eighth annual Freedom 5K Run/Walk begins at 8 a.m. Saturday at access No. 6 in Craighead Forest Park.
Racers will wear timing chips and compete for a plethora of age division awards. The race is also part of the 2010 Ridge Rider Athletic Club’s Running & Walking Series, so there will be points at stake, too.
Online registration is available through www.ridgerider.org and costs $20 ($25 by mail). Race-day registration, for $20, will be accepted from 6:30 to 7:45 a.m. in the park.
Note that this challenging course does include a beastly hill.
As the sun sinks Saturday, the Flippin Fireworks Festival 5K will begin in the north central Arkansas city.
From the Second Street walking bridge in Hickey Park racers will undertake a moderately difficult ordeal at 7:30 p.m. Organizer Tera Payne says the course isn’t the hard part. “What makes it difficult is the heat,” she says.
Registration, available in the park before the start, will cost $20. The field usually isn’t large, so it’s a decent chance to win some hardware - assuming you can be the first overall male or female, the first walker or the first to finish in your 10-year age division.
More information is at (870) 453-8522.
One footrace that’s actually July 4 is in Fayetteville - the 4 on the 4th Run for Veterans 4 Mile at 7:30 a.m. Sunday.
Janet Taylor-Stockton and fellow runners who work for Veterans Affairs (they call themselves the VAlociraptors) organize the four-miler and a one-mile walk. All proceeds will benefit Seven Hills Homeless Shelter.
Race-day registration, $25, will be accepted between 6:30 and 7:15 a.m. at Veterans Park. Or you can preregister for $20 from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Fleet Feet Sports.
Winners in five-year age brackets will take home dogtag-style awards. More information is at 4onthe4th@gmail.com.
ActiveStyle, Pages 24 on 06/28/2010