VALDOSTA — For the fourth straight year, runners will race down Valdosta’s streets on Independence Day. But this year, they will be running a shorter distance on a different course.
A large group of runners have signed up for the inaugural Valdosta 5K, which will begin at 7:15 a.m. Saturday. The event will be run down Patterson Street through the city.
Runners may enter the race from now until Saturday morning. Registration is $20 today, with a cap of $65 for families, and $25 the day of the race (with no family discount).
“We’ve had a good number of people sign up,” race organizer Todd Smoot said. “We’re on pace to have more people sign up this year than the 218 we had in last year’s 8K, which was a record for the event.”
The past three years, the annual race on the Fourth of July has been a 5-mile (8-kilometer) event, starting and ending near the Valdosta Mall. But this year, Smoot has shortened the race by three kilometers, and changed the course.
The new course will start at the BakerSmith Corners Shopping Center (more commonly known as the Winn-Dixie Marketplace Shopping Center) on Ashley Street. Runners will head south on Patterson Street, past South Georgia Medical Center and Valdosta State University. The run will end downtown, at the crosswalk between Central and Hill Avenues.
One of the biggest advantages to the new course is that runners won’t have to cross a railroad track. Trains had been a concern during the old Baytree 8K, but will not be a problem on the new route. Smoot also knew that a 5-kilometer race would be less difficult, and believed it would attract more entries.
“I think this will be a good course,” Smoot said. “We’ll be running down one of Valdosta’s most beautiful streets (Patterson), going from Five Points at the north end of town all the way to downtown Valdosta. This course can handle a lot of people, and we don’t have to worry about a train coming through.”
Because the starting line and the finish line are over three miles apart, runners must make arrangements for getting back to their vehicles after the race. Pearl Executive Shuttle will be running a shuttle service from downtown back to BakerSmith Corners. The cost is $2. Tokens for the shuttle will be sold at Get Active — Running and More and near the starting line on race day, but they must be purchased before the race.
Pearl will be donating all of the money it makes on the shuttles to the Lowndes Veterans Council.
“Pearl Executive Shuttle really stepped up. They donated their time, their energy and their gas to this race,” Smoot said. “They won’t make a dime. All of the money will go to the Lowndes Veterans Council. That really shows their commitment to this city.”
John Seppala of Valdosta has won the last two Independence Day runs. Kelly Fleming of Valdosta was last year’s women’s champion.
The real winner of the event, though, will be the Valdosta area’s veterans. Proceeds from the event will go to the Lowndes Veterans Council, an organization dedicated to helping local veterans. The event has raised over $9,000 for the Veterans Council in the past three years.
“All of the money we raise is going to the Lowndes Veterans Council,” Smoot said. “They have made a big difference. This is Independence Day, a day when we celebrate our country’s independence. We need to celebrate all of those who have served our country, and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, because freedom isn’t free. I think it’s great that we are able to help out our local veterans like this.”
To distinguish them from the other runners, active military personnel competing in the race will be wearing bib numbers between 401-499. Female veterans will wear numbers between 500-599 and male veterans will wear numbers between 600-699.
Runners can sign up today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Get Active, or at tonight’s First Friday monthly event, beginning at 7 p.m. near the Talk 92.1 FM radio station downtown.
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