FORT SMITH -- With nearly 900 runners signed up to participate in the first Fort Smith Marathon on Sunday, organizers are happy the response has exceeded expectations.
"It's absolutely fantastic for us," race director Patrick Pendleton said. "With 750, we were happy. And we've gone beyond that."
He said 247 people had signed up as of Thursday for the 26.2-mile race winding through Fort Smith to its southern border and back to the downtown start/finish line.
Another 436 people are signed up for the half-marathon, and 208 registered for the relay, which involves teams of four -- each runner taking one leg of the marathon.
Runners will represent 21 states, and five runners are expected from foreign countries, Pendleton said. The foreign runners are a couple from British Columbia, Canada; a man from Argentina; and, possibly, two men from Kenya. Pendleton said the two Kenyans told him they wanted to participate in the race, but he wasn't sure Friday whether they were going to show up.
Winners will receive plaques; no money prizes will be awarded this year.
Plaques will be awarded to the winning man and woman in the marathon and half-marathon, and to as many as the top-five teams in the relay. Plaques also will be awarded to the man and woman finishing first, second and third in age categories set in increments of five years, starting at 10-14 years old up to 80-plus years old.
Many runners will be local. In fact, the large running community that has supported such races as the annual 5K and 10K Survivors Challenge in Fort Smith prompted the move to the marathon format.
Sheri Nicholls, president of Western Arkansas Runners, said of the 35 members who showed up for a recent club meeting, 28 said they planned on running in Sunday's event.
"I'm anxious and nervous. All of us are," Nicholls said. "We trained on the hills. It will be a challenge for a lot of people, even for our experienced runners."
Claude Legris, executive director of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the efficiency with which the race committee has organized the event and put the word out to the running community has made it easy for the community to get behind the marathon.
"We can count it as a huge event, and it hasn't even happened yet," he said.
Since this is the first of its kind in Fort Smith, Legris said he won't be able to gauge the economic impact the race will have until after he gathers the data from participant surveys and the lodging and restaurant industries.
Pendleton said he has been gratified by the number of churches, companies and civic groups that have approached him asking what they could do to help.
"The support that has bubbled up in the community has been amazing," he said.
According to the Fort Smith Marathon website, the race is being presented by Mercy Hospital, Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau and Western Arkansas Runners. Timing will be done by Jaymax Race Timing Services.
The website also lists 23 businesses and organizations as sponsors of the event.
The race will begin at 9 a.m. at the Fort Smith Pavilion building at 100 North B St., just down the street from the site of the proposed U.S. Marshals Museum and within sight of the Fort Smith National Historic Site.
The course will head southeast out of downtown, pass through old neighborhoods, the large stately homes on Free Ferry Road, the winding Cliff Drive, and over paved biking/running trails at Ben Geren Regional Park and Chaffee Crossing before turning back to downtown.
A 1.5-mile stretch of the half-marathon will be on the cart path at the Hardscrabble Country Club Golf Course.
Pendleton called the course challenging, not a course on which a person would expect to record a personal best time. But it's also one that will be scenic with some flat and gently rolling sections.
The course will have four significant climbs, he said, one about every 5.5 miles to 7.5 miles so every runner in the relay will encounter at least one major climb.
Pendleton said the difficult climbs were part of the organizers' strategy to market the Fort Smith race as one with "grit," borrowing the term from the novel and movie True Grit, part of which is set in Fort Smith.
"We want the course to fit who we are," Pendleton said.
The race will require a small army of volunteers to support the runners and keep them safe. Planning for the event was a tremendous challenge, Pendleton said, a quantum leap from the preparations required for the Survivors Challenge.
About 300 volunteers will help on race day. About 6 a.m., four crews will set up traffic cones on 19 miles of the course. There will be 265 spots along the route with a person standing by.
More than 50 Fort Smith police officers and Sebastian County sheriff's deputies will be stationed along the course.
Twenty-three aid stations with food and water will be set up along the route, and there will be medical assistance stations at three key locations on the course, he said.
The National Weather Service predicts the high Sunday afternoon to reach 74 degrees after a morning low of 44 degrees.
The higher temperatures will make the run more comfortable, Pendleton said. But many people have been training to run in the cold in the weeks leading up to the race.
"The warmer temperatures will take a toll on some folks, and we want to be very, very careful with that," Pendleton said.
Pendleton said he ordered more water from race sponsor and donor Mountain Spring Water Co. to ensure runners stay hydrated.
Nicholls said she and Western Arkansas Runners members are taking greater precautions in the run-up to the race. She said members have been making sure they drink enough water during the week to stave off dehydration during the race.
But she doesn't think the warmth will be a problem for club members. The club's 21-week training regimen for the race began in September, when temperatures were still high, she said.
She also said the training sessions, held every Saturday morning, were conducted in different conditions: Rain and shine, hot and cold.
"We're ready," she said.
NW News on 02/07/2015