3 Bridges Marathon honors late founder

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/CELIA STOREY
Vincent Cucco, 40, trots past a sign on the North LIttle Rock riverfront during the Dec. 28, 2013, 3 Bridges Marathon.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/CELIA STOREY Vincent Cucco, 40, trots past a sign on the North LIttle Rock riverfront during the Dec. 28, 2013, 3 Bridges Marathon.

Twenty-six-point-two miles is a long way to go on foot. Saturday morning, 400 or so people will try to travel that distance in honor of the late Jacob Wells.

Cheering for them along the Arkansas River Trail will be a number of supporters unusual for a small marathon.

"We've got 15 water stops," race director Bill Torrey marvels. The Jacob Wells 3 Bridges Marathon route is designed so racers will retrace their steps, doing a modified out-and-back involving River Mountain Park, Two Rivers Park and the Clinton Presidential Park. And so "we've got water stops just about every three-quarters of a mile."

And all those aid stations are being created by volunteers, who have raised their hands in droves. Torrey ranks among the state's most experienced race promoters, and he says he's seeing support out of proportion to the size and age of Saturday's event.

For its second running, the marathon bears the name of its founder, an accountant whose outgoing antics, racing accomplishments and contributions to charity made him a bit of a star in central Arkansas. Wells collapsed during the Mid-South Championship Marathon at Wynne on Nov. 1 and died six days later.

Torrey stepped up to help the 3BR26 committee carry off its event. "He already had 98 percent of it in place," Torrey notes. "Nothing has changed."

Wells insisted last year in an interview with ActiveStyle that he not be labeled "race director" of 3BR26, because such events are not created by one person but the committee. "We are all equally invested," he said.

"I feel the same way," says Torrey, owner of Rock City Running in Little Rock. "I'm the frontman, for lack of a better word."

The race committee includes Jaynie Smith Cannon, Ashley Honeywell, John Honeywell, Chris and Tina Ho, William Fletcher, Caleb Ault, Don Morgan, Nicholas Norfolk, Nicole Hobbs, Jenny Massanelli, Jeff Maher, Scott Wall, Kim Howard, Joey Gieringer, Erik Heller and Linda House.

"Everybody is on board," Torrey says, "and they're going to be out there.

"Again, is everything going to be perfect? Nah. There's always glitches. There were glitches last year and there will be glitches this year, but we'll work through it, whatever pops up."

He predicts the mood along the course will be celebration.

"What the runners are going to experience and what I think the volunteers are going to bring to the table is going to be ... really, we could probably add four times the number of racers and they'd see something that you don't see at most events. I think the enthusiasm is going to be real high."

PARKING

With a 5:30 a.m. early start for slower racers, 3BR26 will crowd the trail and its access points from about 4 a.m. until the last racer finishes around 3 p.m. "People just using the trail for their own use will find very little parking," Torrey says.

For spectators and racers, Arkansas Trolley Co. shuttles will be running every 10 minutes or so beginning at 4:30 a.m. from Trinity Assembly of God, 11210 Cantrell Road. Racers doing the 7 a.m. start can catch a trolley from First Baptist Church, 62 Pleasant Valley Drive, beginning at 5 a.m.

Parking will be at the Cantrell West Building at 11300 Cantrell Road.

Shuttles will also run from the LaQuinta Inn and Suites at 1010 Breckenridge Drive and the Best Western Premier: The Burgundy Hotel at 1501 Merrill Drive for their guests.

"Do not attempt to drive down or to park on or at the bottom of River Mountain Road," the race website warns. "This area is reserved for race officials, volunteers and emergency vehicles."

MEMORIALS

Torrey expects to see a fair number of shirtless male runners and everyone high-fiving during the event in memory of Wells' habits.

On the Facebook page "Running for Jacob Wells" on Dec. 8, Cannon suggested another memorial. The medical examiner had discovered her seemingly healthy 45-year-old boyfriend's heart was enlarged to an extent that made its electrical impulses unreliable, she wrote, adding that the cause was uncertain, a situation listed as idiopathic cardiomyopathy.

"This condition can be the result of genetic predisposition, but it is commonly seen in athletes who died suddenly and unexpectedly, of various ages," Cannon wrote. Wells had completed more than 100 marathons and had no symptoms of heart trouble.

Cannon added that she has learned that "high performance, high endurance athletes are so well conditioned that they often mask the usual symptoms of an enlarged heart that might be more evident in the average person with a lower level of fitness -- and it can occur in anyone, anytime."

She urged readers to learn from Wells' example.

"Runner friends, especially marathon and ultra runners, honor Jacob by asking your doctor for a heart screening, whether either of you think you need it or not. There are medical interventions. This hidden danger took him from a smiling, double fist pumping, 7 minute pace running machine, 19 miles in ... to his knees in seconds. And then it took him away from us forever."

ActiveStyle on 12/22/2014

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