Women runners picking up pace at Firecracker Fast 5K
Posted on Friday, July 4, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/230465/
Firecracker Fast 5 K founder Gary Smith isn’t sure how to interpret the running boom’s aftermath.
He watched in the 1970 s as the first surge of runners forced him from his tiny running shoe store in Little Rock Height’s neighborhood to a larger building a few blocks away. About 60 people registered for his first Firecracker race, July 4, 1977. More than 1, 500 finished Firecracker races in the late 1980 s and early 1990 s.
Now Smith owns Easy Runner, a store in west Little Rock. His office is 5-by-8 feet and strewn with running shoes, running shoe boxes, catalogs, books, trophies, running memorabilia, photographs and stacks of magazines, envelopes and entry forms. Visitors who join him there sit on boxes.
“Running has changed a lot since I first got into this back in the 1970 s,” Smith said. “I think now a lot of people are combining it with different things, like biking and swimming. But they’re still buying shoes.”
Smith said the most significant change in the 30 years he has spent in the running game has been the increase in women runners. He said “four or five” women entered the first Firecracker race. Of the 994 who finished last year’s Firecracker, 406 were women.
“There are lots and lots of females running now,” Smith said. “Back in the [late 1970 s and early 1980 s ], we had maybe one lady’s running shoe. Maybe two, and maybe not in your size. That’s all changed.”
Smith will drive the pace car today to lead a field of nearly 1, 000 entrants in the Firecracker Fast 5 K as it winds from the Heights to the finish near War Memorial Stadium. He said 868 had registered by 5 p. m. Thursday, and that about 100 usually register on raceday morning. The Firecracker had 599 finishers in 2004, but finishers have increased each year since, with 676 in 2005 and 815 in 2006.
“The last [three ] years it’s come up,” Smith said. “But I don’t know what that means. The course is just about the same. We haven’t done anything differently to advertise it. We just keep doing what we’ve always done.
“ By now, I think, people who run know about this race. If we didn’t show up with a starting pistol some Fourth of July, there’d probably be a crowd of people up there ready to run.”
Prominent runners from the early boom days have been brought in by Smith to race and promote the Firecracker, beginning with Frank Shorter in the mid-1980 s. Shorter, winner of the 1972 Olympic marathon, also ran in 1989 and 2001. Bill Rodgers, a four-time winner of the Boston and New York Marathons, won the race in 1988, ran alongside Shorter in the 1989 Firecracker, billed as the “Duel in the Sun” and again in 2000. Joan Benoit-Samuelson, winner of the 1984 Olympic women’s marathon, ran the Firecracker in 2004.
No big names will race today, but Smith said he talked to Benoit-Samuelson about today’s race.
“She said she wanted to come back this year, but was already scheduled to go watch the Olympic trials,” Smith said. “She liked the race, and I would love to have her back.”
Smith said he is not sure what impact aging celebrity runners have on race entries.
“I got a call from Frank Shorter one time here at the store,” Smith said. “One of the girls who worked here said, ‘Somebody named Frank Shorter wants to talk to you.’ She didn’t know who he was.
“ I tried to get Deena Kastor last year, which I knew was a long shot. I got as far as her husband. She had so much on her schedule, and like she’s going to come run the Firecracker and risk hurting herself here. And, to tell you the truth, I’m not even sure how many people know who Deena Kastor is.”
Kastor, the marathon bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, ran for the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks.
“I like to get the legends here, but there aren’t a lot of people around like that now that started the running boom,” Smith said. “And I’m not sure who I could get that would have any kind of great appeal.
“ But we do get some fast people, and we’ve had some exciting finishes, and it’s been fun to see that. We have a pretty strong field, but a lot of people just show up just for fun, and that’s kind of what we’ve always wanted this race to be.” Firecracker Fast 5 K WHERE Little Rock Heights neighborhood to War Memorial Stadium WHEN 7: 30 a. m. today RUNNERS TO WATCH Two-time defending champion Josphat Boit is entered as is former Razorback Peter Kosgei LATE REGISTRATION 6-7 a. m. today at intersection of Kavanaugh Blvd. and University Ave. Race-day entry fee is $ 30