Arkansas Runner 2M hits 20th anniversary

Saturday’s 20th annual Arkansas Runner 2M is what the name suggests: a 2-mile footrace that ArkansasRunner.com began 20 years ago, in Benton.

The morning offers two events:

At 7:30 a.m., the 2-miler, which costs $20 for adults but only $10 for ages 14 and younger;

At 8:30 a.m., a free mile for little kids.

The Saline County Striders running club hosts this chiptimed event to benefit the Saline County Boys and Girls Club, 1810 Citizens Drive at Riverside Park. The start and finish line will be feet from the club, and the course, which has been updated a little based on feedback after the 2017 race, includes a footpath around the nearby baseball complex.

The 2M is part of the Arkansas Grand Prix series, and so the pack will include very speedy whippets; but the Striders invite runners and walkers of all abilities. Racers will line up by pace.

Inclusion in Grand Prix guarantees a set of amenities that range from traffic control, water, and toilet access to awards that go three deep in the overall, masters, grand masters and seniors categories and in five-year age divisions from 9-and-younger to 80-andolder.

That’s right, octogenarians — you shall compete among yourselves and not against the 77-year-old whippersnappers.

Online registration is available until 11:59 p.m. Thursday using a link on arkansasrunner. com; add $2.50 for adult registration and $2 for youths; but the kiddie run has no handling fee. There’s also a $50 option for four members of a family; and Striders club members get a discount, too.

Race-day registration, from 6 to 7 a.m. at the Boys and Girls Club, will cost $25 for ages 15 and up; but the youth registration fee won’t rise.

Race director Chris Hall’s email is chris.blu.hall@ gmail.com.