LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ marathoners have yet another reason to run their socks off: a chance to race across the Mighty Mississippi.
The first Mississippi River Marathon, set for Feb. 9, will begin in eastern Arkansas beside Lake Chicot and end 26.2 miles away in Greenville, Miss. The event will also include a half marathon.
This race is the brainchild of two Teach for America math teachers - Christopher Marsh and Bretton Wall - who thought it up while worrying about their students at Lakeside High School in Lake Village.
As active young men who believe in exercise, “we noticed not only did our students have a poor educational opportunity but they took very bad care of their health,” Marsh says.
The teachers loved running in Lake Village - “a gorgeous town” with “that beautiful new bridge,” Marsh says.
“The climate is great in the wintertime,” Wall says. “In the summer I’d say it’s like hell, but that’s because it’s so hot. But, no, it’s a great place to run in as much as it’s really flat.”
Wall says, “Running events are a little more scarce than I would like.”
Marsh says, “We saw we could make a difference. So we created a nonprofit.”
A nonprofit to put on a marathon in the Delta, with a board of directors, a race committee, a website, a Facebook page ....
“Most races, when they’re starting out, a lot of people get excited about them, but I think a lot of people, too, are a little bit apprehensive because it’s the first year and they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into,” Marsh says. “We have a great team put together, people who have put on races before.
“We have an army of volunteers. Both the city of Greenville and Lake Village have been so helpful, and they’re so excited to put this event on, I think it’s going to be a great thing for many years to come.”
Start2Finish of Memphis will certify the course, so runners can use it as a Boston qualifier.
Timing will use “B-tags” on racing bibs. Racers’ results will include their gun time (the time it takes to finish the race based on when the starting gun fires) and chip time (the time it takes to finish based on when they crossed the starting line).
OVER THE RIVER
Except for a bridge over the Mississippi River, this will not be a hilly event.
The 26.2-miler will begin at the intersection of Stuart Island and Causeway roads in Arkansas. The half-marathon will start at the intersection of U.S. 82 and Arkansas 142 on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River bridge, in the parking lot of The Cow Pen, 5198 E. U.S. 82 in Lake Village.
Both races will finish in Stein Mart Park in downtown Greenville.
Although runners will be allowed to have someone drop them off near the start, they can’t leave cars there. Parking’s in Greenville, and buses will carry them from Washington and Poplar streets to the starting lines. The buses will depart at 5 a.m. for the marathon line and at 6 for the half-marathon line.
CUT-OFF TIMES
Marathoners will have seven hours to complete their ordeal; half-marathoners will have six hours. Aid stations along the route will close on a rolling schedule timed to a 15-minute-per-mile pace.
“Anyone not able to maintain at least a 15-minute-milepace will have the option of either being picked up or finishing at their own risk when roads have been reopened,” race directors say on their website.
Baby joggers and strollers will be admitted; those runners will start near the back of the pack. Dogs, bicycles, relay teams, roller skates and inline skates, skateboards, pacing devices and support crews are not allowed.
Headphones, while discouraged, will be allowed - but not among the elite pack.
Marathoners who wear headphones will not be eligible for the cash prizes offered to the winners in the marathon ($500 for the first-place man and woman, $300 for second place, $200 for third).
RACE AWARDS
Results for the open (overall) division will be based on gun time. For all other divisions, age groups and races, the results will be based on chip times.
In both races, awards include medals for every finisher as well as awards for the top three male and female racers overall and for masters, grand masters and senior masters finishers.
Age-division awards for men and women in both races will go three deep in five-year divisions from ages 16 to 19 to 75 plus. The half-marathon only will also have an 11-to-15 age division.
REGISTRATION
Fees will rise later, but entry currently costs $70 for the marathon and $50 for the half and is available by mail or online. More information is at mississippirivermarathon.racesonline.com and at facebook.com/mississippirivermarathon.
GREATER GOOD
Net proceeds of the marathon will benefit Teach for America, and the race website invites visitors to make independent donations.
Teach for America has more than 580 teachers in the Mississippi Delta, according to Becky O’Neill, regional communications director for the national organization.
It recruits teachers to apply for employment in impoverished school districts that serve low-income communities and have trouble attracting ambitious professionals. The recruits make a two-year commitment to the districts that hire them.
Marsh, 26 and originally from Utah, is halfway through his contract; Wall, also 26, completed his and is back home in Utah, preparing to enter the University of Michigan this fall to seek a master’s degree in health-care administration.
Wall, by the way, is working on a different personal commitment: running across Utah. He made it 240 miles last summer but was stopped by a stress fracture. He plans to tackle the remaining 100 miles this weekend.
He says sweating in the heat of Mississippi last year made him strong. He only wishes he’d had a few more hills to contend with.
ActiveStyle, Pages 25 on 08/06/2012