This race is part of a Spring
Series in Iredell County. Thirteen races take place in Statesville,
Union Grove, Troutman, Mooresville, and Love Valley. Each race is only
$10 and manually timed. Shirts are available for $15 and this year's
color is light gray with the Ready. Run. Race. logo on the front and the Sweet 13 listings on the back.
I
ran with a friend and it was our first race with the McLelland Racing
Team (MRT). I must say, they are enthusiastic, well organized and quite
friendly. We will be returning for more Spring Races and for their
Summer series which is a progressive race series incorporating longer
distances with each race.
There
was water stop en route with COLD water (Kudos!!) and lots of
volunteers to keep runners on course. MRT also had an excellent awards
program with door prizes and medals for top three winners in all age
groups. For $10, this is quite impressive.
The
MRT manager was absent Tuesday night and there were timing issues. At
present, there are no official results. In an effort to make amends,
the Manager has given ALL who ran this race a free entry into another
race in EITHER series. That speaks volumes to the integrity of the
Racing Company.
I
wore my Garmin and will admit that the last 5 or 6 of us missed one
turn in the race, shortening our overall distance by about 4/10ths of a
mile. I asked a fellow runner for a left or right turn at one
intersection and I think we were given her best guess. No fault of
hers. My Garmin clocked a distance of 2.72 with a finish time of 47:33.
We were attempting to do the C25K plan on the route but discovered the
hills weren't very accommodating. Yes, there are hills.
This
route began and ended at the Statesville YMCA and went through a local
neighborhood along I-40. The hills weren't overly steep but there were a
few challenges. The were baby joggers and dog runners - a very runner
friendly race. I would highly recommend this series to anyone looking
for a low fee, small crowd, rewarding experience. I look forward to
running several more over the summer. A heartfelt thanks to MRT for
promoting a very well managed event for their community.
Unofficial Time: 47:33