Thank you to all the race registrants, sponsors, partners, and spectators! Over 1900 registered—way beyond our expectations, making this the biggest road race in the City of Tucson! Not only did we have a ton of people, but we had some speedsters—congratulations to race winner Ian Burrell. In an interesting coincidence, he ran 14:37.9 and last year he ran 14:37.6—pretty darn fast in the 100-degree heat! Speaking of pretty darn fast, congratulations to top woman runner, Hanna Henson from the UA in 18:00.7, a few seconds off the course record set by Everlyn Lagat two years ago. On the master’s side, Phoenix’s John Reich set a new master’s record in 16:37, a full minute faster than Dave Dobler’s previous master’s mark. Top master’s woman Polly Campbell also set a master’s record in 19:40. Great running from the master’s crowd! We’re still checking for other age-group records . . .
A note on timing: the race timer will continue to post updates, so if you spot any errors that we need to adjust, please send an email to Greg and he’ll get it taken care of. In the meantime, if you ran the race but did not pick up your race t-shirt, we are ordering more shirts and they will be available at The Running Shop at the end of next week. If you won an age group award, please also visit The Running Shop for your prizes.
A further note on race timing: many of you have commented on how crowded the finish line was—indeed, with 1700 folks finishing within about 30 minutes it certainly was. Please know that the Southern Arizona Roadrunners is in the midst of purchasing a new electronic timing system. Frankly, instead of purchasing a national system, we’re trying to keep money local and support young entrepreneurs, so we’ve been in the process of working with local mountain bike race director Todd Sadow of Epic Rides to modify his system for runners. We’ve been testing the new system and plan on implementing it at the SAR fall races, beginning with the TMC Saguaro National Park Labor Day Run.
For those new to local running events, Meet Me Downtown is produced by the Southern Arizona Roadrunners—a member-driven non-profit devoted to promoting health and wellness through running and walking.
If you are not a SAR member, please consider joining—you can save all sorts of money off race entry fees, receive discounts to many local merchants, and be part of a great community of people. See http://azroadrunners.org/go/category/membership/join for details.
Thanks to our title sponsor, Tucson Medical Center—without their funding, this race could not happen!
Thanks again to our partners in the media: Caliente and the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Lifestyle, 92.9 The Mountain, and Cox Communications. Indeed, we’ve had some great media coverage lately—if you missed the recent articles in the paper, see the Arizona Daily Star article on the Gabe Zimmerman Triple Crown and the Caliente article on the MMD race. KVOA-4 ran a nice interview with Ross ZImmerman and KOLD-13 did a nice piece on the race itself. Finally, Tucson Lifestyle ran a great piece in the current issue.
Volunteers: Races like this cannot be produced without volunteers. Last Saturday’s race needed about 100 or so—including the following folks: Joe Plassman and his pick-up truck, Steve Outridge and his pick-up truck, Kara Middendorf and her Tile Outlet truck, Steve and Sheryl Felde, Scout Phillips and friend Dawn, Michelle Hawk, Sarah Vular, Brandon Briscoe, Marti Ackerman, Russel Riordan, Marc Janis, Connie Lopez, Stacie LaPoint, Rachel Hilgeford, Dennis Bonilla, Nicole Lund, Aaron Lund, Erin Boland, Sharon Pascoe, Alisha Bashford, Chris Garcia, Jennifer Garcia, Jocie Riley, Tim Bentley, Lucas Tyler, Tina Perry, Jane Swanson, Buddy Martin, Wally Barunda, Roger Shanley, Vanessa Marion, Sandy White, Janet Holland, Sandra Heater, Sue Abramson, Doreen Castillo, Mari Diaz, Greg Gadarian, the gang from Child and Family Resources that managed the 2-mile water station along with Maureen Cunningham, the gang from Educational Enrichment Foundation that managed the 1-mile water station, the gang of young adults from JobCorps, the group from the Children’s Museum Tucson and TMC that managed the Children’s Pavilion, the performers from Elemental Artistry, and the UA student interns Michael Brondello, James Eichberger, Brian MacArthur, Natalie Verges, and Madison Carrol. Another unsung volunteer is my wife, Tia, who came up with the idea for the sponges and cold water—and who spent the past several months putting up with me as I got ready for this event!
This race is part of The Running Shop Grand Prix, produced by SAR.
Please patronize our great sponsors!! They believe in a healthy Tucson and they believe in an exciting and active Downtown . . .
Tucson Medical Center
Caliente and the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson Lifestyle
AAA Arizona
The Running Shop
92.9 The Mountain
Cox Communications
Muscle Milk
Downtown Tucson Partnership
Hotel Congress
Maynard’s Kitchen
Bracht Photography – race night photos
Bourn Companies
Culligan Water
17th Street Market
Sunflower Market
Kalil Beverages and Sun Drop
