GRAND RAPIDS (Mich.)- The 1st Annual 28th St. Metro Cruise®5K/10K Announced Growth of races nationwide lead to additional races in West Michigan area
For the first time in its six year history, the Sixth Annual Foremost Insurance 28th St. Metro Cruise® will add a 5K run/walk and a 10K run. This event will take place as part of the large car festival that has drawn hundreds of thousands to the area. The race will be held near 28th St. and DeHoop, starting and finishing at Wyoming City Hall.
“The growth in races locally and nationally is a big part of the reason for more activities like this. When you look at Boston, Chicago and races throughout the nation, two things are happening; 1)they are selling out in record time and 2) participation numbers increase each year. Examples locally are the recent Fifth Third River Bank Run here in Grand Rapids and the Borgess half marathon in Kalamazoo”, commented MiRunning Race Mgt. owner Chris Nicholas.
For the first annual event, the theme of “28” pulls everything together. The race is being held August 28th, the early registration fee is $28, the race is held in conjunction with the Sixth Annual Foremost Insurance “28th St.” Metro Cruise®and the race begins and ends near 28th Street.
“We set the pricing so that it was competitive and affordable to attend, to ensure that costs needed to cover the event are taken care of and to ensure we will be able to put dollars back into the local education system. MiRunning hosted the 2009 NIKE+ Human Race last October (one of 37 events world-wide) where it set an early registration fee of $18. This cost included a race shirt, golf pass to Candlestone Golf Resort, post race food (including burgers, brats, chicken, etc). We will host another race at Candlestone this year, but like that outrageously low price point for all that was offered, we want to create a reputation of great races, with great incentives to participate at a great price.”
Nicholas added.
Times for the event have been set with the 5K run/walk beginning at 8 am Saturday August 28th and the 10K run at 8:45am. The time difference between the two events will allow participants who are looking for a little extra mileage that morning to run the 5K and then get back in line and run the 10K without paying anything additional for the total of 9.3 miles. Race shirts will be provided to all who register early and a finisher medal will be given to every participant who crosses the finish line. Post race refreshments will also be provided. The event will be timed from start to finish with awards given to the top overall male and female, masters male and female in both races. $1,200 in prize money will be awarded consisting of a $150 cash prize to each of the 4 winners (overall and masters) per race.
“In addition to the prize money and medals, we are going to award something unique to each of the top winners, something that is not heard of. We will award the top age group winner in all thirteen age groups a crystal cube trophy. It is about the size of the palm of your hand and weighs about one pound. Each male and female will take home one of those crystal trophies. Second and third will also win place prizes,” Nicholas concluded.
As part of the event, local TV celebrities Terri DeBoer and Rachael Ruiz from WOOD TV8 will help kick off the race, along with a special guest flown in from Pennsylvania. The Chief Running Officer of the top running publication in the world, Runner’s World Magazine and the author of “My Life on the Run,” Bart Yasso. Yasso will be at the event autographing books and for the start of the race. He will then travel to a second race put on by MiRunning Race Mgt. in the Manistee National Forest. That race is a 50 mile ultra, 26.2 mile marathon and 13.1 mile half marathon.
“I have learned to live with Lime Disease, run across America, run a marathon on every continent and I travel to over 200 races throughout the world each year and it’s races like these that motivate even someone like me. I am honored to be flying into to help kick off this first year race,” explained Bart Yasso.
The event will be a charity to benefit the Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The dollars given back to the foundation will go towards educational grants and scholarships for area youth. For more information on the race and specific details of times, dates, how to register, etc. you may go to www.cruiserun.com –
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?PureFitRadio/642fa25f37/3d86604027/2f8884c860 or contact Chris Nicholas directly at 616-430-2496 or
chris@mirunning.com
