So next year we’ll change the course to start and end on Church Street . . .
Why? Well, because a thousand people can’t fit on that course!
What a great turnout for the Second Annual Meet Me Downtown 5k Night Run, presented by the Tucson Association of REALTORS. Almost 1000 folks registered for the event, with 827 finishers – pretty much doubling the totals from last year’s inaugural event. Thanks to all the runners and walkers and family and friends and everyone else who came out and enjoyed a rockin’ evening in Downtown Tucson!
From first-place finisher Jason Colavito to last place finisher Anna Johnson, a good time was had by all. For her efforts, Anna received a weekend getaway to the Hotel Congress, while Jason picked up a cool hundred dollars for leading the way.
Former UA standout Colavito won for the second straight year, with Grinder Shaun Haley taking second place and Workout Group racer Shane Carr, last year’s Grand Prix champion, taking third. On the women’s side, local hero Paula Morrison cruised to an easy victory, with Grinder Stephanie Wenneborg taking second place over Canadian triathlete Chriss Parks. The men’s masters division was a heated affair, with Dave Dobler, Dave Hill, and Benito Gonzalez taking the top three spots. Janet Holland, Barbara Leinweber, and Lisa Warneke rounded out the top three for the women’s masters.
Top finishers and a host of raffle winners were awarded prizes from the Running Shop, the Fox Theatre, Beowulf Alley Theater, and Hotel Congress. (Raffle winners would have had a chance at cool Tucson-based magnets courtesy of Endangered Architecture, but the race director forgot to pick them up!)
But the real story is the range of participants with one of the largest races in recent Tucson history. As the sure-to-be Academy Award-winning video put together by former GP Champ Mike Salkowski demonstrates (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXY2EYk_0f), Downtown was filled with smiling, laughing, and sweaty people dancing to the Tryst, eating a ton of food, and generally enjoying themselves.
The movie, Spirit of the Marathon was well-attended at the Fox Theatre, as was the after-party at Hotel Congress. Don’t forget to check out the photos from Jim Irish and Jon Scholnick as they get posted to the SAR website.
Oasis/Culligan donated the water for the water stations, much appreciated in the almost 100-degree start-time temperatures. Plenty of food was available after the race, with a host of local restaurants providing sustenance to the tired crowd. Thanks to Chris’s Café, Quesadilla Grill, Cushing Street Restaurant, Enoteca Restaurant, Tooley’s Café, and the Hotel Congress’s Cup Café for all the great refreshments after the race.
We are also grateful to Wes Wiggins and Laura Kruszewski from the Tucson Association of REALTORS for their sponsoring dollars. In addition, Kim Bourn from Bourn Properties and the Post lofts contributed sponsor dollars, as did the great folks at One North Fifth, built by Peach Properties. So if you can, make these sponsors feel good by hiring a realtor to buy a condo, loft, or apartment! You can rent, too . . .
Speaking of thanks: as well know, events like this are a collective effort, purely dependent on volunteers. If you see anyone on this partial list of volunteers, by all means, give ‘em a big ol’ hug for their help: Ron Lumm; Mary Lasser; Mandy Proctor; Sherilen Clark; Paula Morrison; Sandra Heater; Dave Hill; Maureen Cunningham and the boys from Delta Sigma Pi at Water Station 2; the Scerbo, Wilson, and Plassman families at Water Station 1; Toby, Jennifer, Olga and the nameless women from the UA who directed runners through the Presidio Plaza; Sue, Rick, Rane and Bobby and the nameless high school boys who directed runners by the Music Hall; the boys from the Running Shop who hauled water; the Pima track athletes who helped Greg Wenneborg handle the flood of finishers in order to get timely and accurate results. And we are all grateful, I’m sure to Tim Bentley from Bourn Properties for filling up the empty water bucket after empty water bucket after the race! As always a special debt is owed to Steve and Sheryl Felde and Marc Janis, who spent all day registering runners (and then Marc got roped into helping drop cones out on the course!).
Thanks to new SAR webmaster Rebecca Taylor of littlered media for handling all of the race updates and FAQ’s with ease!
A special thanks to the Tucson Police Department for providing safety to all the walkers and runners out on the course. We know it was a difficult week for TPD with the loss of Officer Erik Hite, and we appreciate your service to the community. The race will make a donation to the TPD memorial fund for Officer Hite.
The Fox Theatre and the scholarship programs of Greater Tucson Leadership will receive a portion of the proceeds from the race. Thanks as well to those who made additional donations to the charities, including Joe Faulk, Kim Fernandez, Belle Tom, Scott Cole, Steve and Sheryl Felde, and Joni Hubbard (please get in touch with us if we’ve missed your donation!)
