Runners hog the spotlight in downtown LR
It’s probably too late to invest in pink and expect to make a profit.
The color was everywhere Saturday in downtown Little Rock, and stretched the 3-mile, 188-yard length of the Race for the Cure 5K into North Little Rock and back across the Arkansas River. Most of the approximately 30,000 runners and walkers, thousands of volunteers and fans gathered near the start, and the Three Miles of Men crowded along the course were dressed in pink or at least decorated by it.
This was Little Rock’s 21st Race For the Cure 5K. Each has been promoted by Susan B. Komen, a nonprofit organization whose efforts have been focused on finding a cure for breast cancer since it was founded in 1982.
Of the the nearly 140 Races for the Cure in the United States last year, Little Rock’s race became the last to allow men to enter.
On Saturday, Gannon White became the first man to win the race as he finished in 17 minutes, 27.89 seconds. Leah Thorvilson, first overall last year, had to settle for the women’s championship after finishing in 18:32.97.
“I knew that guy was way out there,” Thorvilson said. “I knew by the way he was running that even if I had the want-to, I don’t think I had a shot. So I wasn’t really worried about him.”
White said winning was of little importance to him.
“I just wanted to do it to support the cause,” he said. “That wasn’t a fast time for me because I’m injured, but it’s a good cause so I decided to go ahead and do it.”
White said his personal best for a 5,000 meters is 14:48.
“This course is never easy,” Thorvilson said. “I never run it fast but, you know, I’ve been beaten in a lot of races lately. I’m in the phase where people come up to me after races and say, ‘Are you OK? What happened?’ And I say, ‘What happened is that I’ll be 36 in January. What happened is the inevitable.’ ”
As much as she would like for pink to become Arkansas’ more significant color, Race for the Cure executive director Sherry McBride sounded realistic about its local stature.
Komen of Arkansas was asked by the city years ago to avoid a conflict with Arkansas Razorbacks football games in Little Rock. She said Race for the Cure decided on its own to never schedule the race when the Razorbacks played home games in Little Rock or Fayetteville.
This year, with the Razorbacks on a bye week, there were no worries about divided loyalty between the race and the Razorbacks.
“We’re pretty powerful in pink,” McBride said, “But, honey, we’re not going to go against pig-sooie red.”
Among the challenges facing Race for the Cure organizers was a new course. Until Saturday, the course had remained the same since the first event in 1991. Consequently, a few runners were confused early.
Runners and walkers had always started south on Broadway and almost immediately up and over the Broadway Bridge into North Little Rock. The finish was a photographer’s delight, with the state capitol in the background as runners finished headed east on Capitol Avenue.
On the new course, which was set up because organizers believed construction of the new Broadway Bridge would be underway on race day, runners headed east from the start on East Capitol Avenue. They later crossed into and out of North Little Rock on the Main Street Bridge. The finish line came after a home stretch raced west on Third Street of slightly more than a block, three blocks due east of the main staging area.
Komen special events director Jessie Gillham said she expects this course to serve the race until the Broadway Bridge is reopened.
“It should be fine,” course certifier Bill Torrey said as entrants gathered on Capitol to begin the race. “I’m a little concerned about what will happen on the Main Street Bridge [near the finish]. It could get a little backed up, and the finish might be a little tight, but I think it’ll work out.”
Afterward, as the masses approached the finish, Torrey said he was content.
“I’m never completely satisfied, but this is fine,” Torrey said. “I think it’s turned out well.”
Race chairman Ashley Hurst said there was some confusion.
“People are struggling with the start a little,” she said. “But people are figuring it out, and them seem excited.”
Organization of the Race for the Cure goes far beyond course design, but Hurst said the experience of 20 previous races has led to a fluid, almost simple effort.
“There are so many working parts,” she said. “It goes from the people in charge of registration, in charge of the whole mail-out operation. It’s a huge operation just to get the shirts and race bibs and everything else in that correctly labeled bag. It has to be the right-sized shirt and all that.
“There are just so many things, so many working parts, but we have so many people on the race committees who have done it forever that it operates so smoothly.” This time was no different. “We have a such an amazing committee, and the staff has thought through every little part of it,” she said. “So far it’s panned out exactly as all of us had hoped.”