Fire Department adopts Bentonville teen's shirt design for inaugural race

BENTONVILLE -- A teen's T-shirt design will help the Bentonville Firefighters' Association promote its first road race fundraiser this summer.

The Hook & Ladder 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer races are scheduled for the early morning of Aug. 6. Money raised from the event will go toward the purchase of a firefighter's statue to be placed in front of Fire Station No. 1, which is at the corner of Southwest A and Southeast Eighth streets.

The association has raised about $8,000 toward a goal of $40,000, said Fire Department Capt. Hunter Smith, who is also the association's president. The statue "would be an awesome centerpiece for our fire station," he said.

The association enlisted the help of Bentonville High School graphic design teachers to get students interested in a contest designing T-shirts for the runners.

Kirstyn Tureman, 18, who graduated last month, was chosen the contest winner from among about 20 entries, said Scott Boyd, a firefighter and the race director.

Tureman's design features a race logo that resembles the shape of the department's logo. Below that is a drawing of the front end of a fire truck surrounded by runners.

Tureman, a lifelong Bentonville resident, will get a free T-shirt and a free entry into the race, though she said she'll be out of town.

She plans to spend the summer working at her grandparents' diner in Montana, just outside of Yellowstone National Park, she said. She then intends to go on an 18-month mission trip before enrolling at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

The association is a nonprofit organization consisting of all Bentonville firefighters. It serves the community in various ways, from providing scholarships for high school students to mowing lawns of those who are elderly or handicapped. Such work by the firefighters is strictly volunteer and is performed while they are off duty, Boyd said.

"We're trying to be a little more community-oriented, getting out in the public to let them see us," Smith said.

The statue idea first came up in 2008 but was put on hold until last year, he said.

Smith called the race a work in progress. A unique aspect of the race is the prize for each of the top male and female finishers: a firefighter's helmet, complete with a custom shield.

Mike Rush, owner of Rush Running Co., helped the association with some ideas for the race, including a team challenge strictly for local fire departments. A traveling trophy will be made for the winning team to take home each year.

Both races will start and end at Fire Station No. 1. The courses are unique, Rush said.

"There are so many races now, and it's hard to distinguish yourself," he said. "I think they've got a really good idea."

Rush said he hopes the department will make use of its ladder truck to spray water on the runners using a mister nozzle, something he saw the Rogers Fire Department do once at a race.

"People just loved it," he said. "It's like a drenching rain."

The middle of the summer may not be ideal timing for a race in Arkansas, but there is precedent to show summer races can draw strong participation. Rush pointed to the Tontitown Grape Festival's Run for the Grapes, also held in August, as one local example.

"If you do a really good job of marketing and have something people want, whatever your cause is, you can put on a really nice race in the heat of the summer," he said. "But if you don't scream and shout and don't advertise it, then yeah, you might only get 50 people."

NW News on 06/18/2016