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Kittery Fire Department 5K Run/Walk
Kittery, ME, May 17, 2009
[Overall Results | Age Group Results ]
file photos of Joel Anderson & Christine Snow-Reaser. Courtesy of Don Penta of the Maine Track Club
Runners Talk about this event
As you might guess, this race is all about firemen. Prizes go heavy that way, which is fine, and the early-entry t shirts noted nothing about a race, even though they are noce material. They have the firemen’s logo on the front and the sponsors on the back. Age category prizes were gift certificates (mine was a $15. to Runners’ Alley; Paula got a $5. to some hardware off Rt. 1N). Categories included 60-69 and 70 and over because I complained and someone else did too because it was 50 and above last year. Race winners and firemen winners got huge trophies and a gift certificate. Food was good and ample with fruit, huge cookies, brownies, crackers, sport drinks AND COFFEE (one I always appreciate, especially on cold, rainy days). How-some-ever, we chose this race because the brochure said it was “Flat and fast,” which was totally inaccurate. Bob Randall and I agreed it was much hillier than the Portland Seadog course, painfully so. A more accurate description would be, “challenging, ” since there were about five pretty nasty hills and several grades in theout and back (with a loop at the middle) course totally on pavement. The starting command was startling; people were chatting when this guy up front said, “Okay, GO.” I don’t see this as a race that will get a lot better, given that there really isn’t anything special, as far as we were concerned and the managers are not runners. I give them credit for responding positively to my criticism regarding age divisions and a passing grade for post-race food. We probably won’t do it again. c
I am the race director for this 5K. I realize this comment is a year old and I talked to the gentleman who posted the above comments personally. I would like to respond to some of the comments:
1) Thank you for the feedback on the shirts. We pride ourselves on our excellent technical race shirts. We give shirts to the first 150 early bird registrants and they have become so popular we will likely expand the number next year.
2) We have never advertised the event as “fast and flat” and are unsure where this confusion may have stemmed from. It is a fun and mildly challenging course. We had a record number of first time 5K runners this year and I received very positive feedback about the course this year.
3) I am sad that the gentleman states “I don’t see this as a race that will get a lot better.” We had an increase of over 100 participants this year (over 300 participants total) and the above gentleman did come back and won another award!
4) This run was started by a runner and is made for the community, fire department and runners. Feedback is solicited from runners and changes such as bathrooms, refreshments, awards, etc is used to make this event better every year!
Thank you for your support,
Dan Hale
Kittery Fire Association
Comment by Dan Hale — May 23, 2010 @ 7:48 pm