FOOTPRINT Lake Grapevine Runners & Walkers
March - April 2010
www.runnersandwalkers.com
Bold in the Cold 2010 – By the Numbers By Jeff “Barney” Barnhart and Mike Evans
T
he first few weekends in January, Texas saw temperatures in the teens and wind chills in the single digits from an arctic blast from the north. Would this year’s Bold in the Cold 5K and 15K truly be running in the frigid cold?
of cities and states, 97 cities from 10 different states, with the furthest state being Washington. The participants took home 890 sweat shirts, 390 more than the race promised, which were delivered in 62 large boxes.
Texans know, wait a couple of days and the weather could be the complete opposite. This year temperatures were in
In the registration area, the event had a record number of online registrations of 800 and during race week, 60 people registered at Luke’s Locker and 131 on race day. In helping to make race day go smoother, over 600 runners picked up their packets at Luke’s.
5K Women’s Winner Colleen Casey
the 70s and Bold in the Cold looked to be “Wild in the Warm.” Contrast to last year’s race temps of 36° and a wind chill of 24°, 2010 race day temps were a balmy 50°. This warm weather contributed to the record crowd for the second year in a row and led to the theme of this year’s event of the numbers. First and foremost was the number of participants, 991, besting the previous year’s record by 312. This now stands as the largest race put on by RAW and the team did it without breaking a sweat. The participants represented a record number
Race day arrived with the participants consuming 280 pounds of bananas, 750 CLIF® bars, 650 bottles of Athletes Honey Milk®, 900 bottles of water, and 3,000 safety pins. The event again stepped up the recycling program by partnering with Republic Services and recycled over 400 pounds of material from the race. Bold in the Cold teamed up with Nike Reuse program again to recycle over 200 pairs of shoes to help build running tracks and paths. The parking crew, led by Gary “The Parker” Howsam, parked over 500 cars in the Dove Loop lots so fast that at ten minutes before race starting time, the line of cars that stretched as far up Dove Loop as you could see earlier had disappeared. It was a truly amazing job by the crew this year.
The timing team, led by Jack “The Clock” Hase, Steve “Dog Dude” Rush and Angela Thornton, broke in the new RAW timing system in timing the 800-plus finishers without missing a second. The only minor issue was that some chips were worn by the wrong runners, such as females who were really males, which was all corrected for the final results. Oh, yes there was, of course, the actual race, with 458 5Kers and 364 15Kers taking to the Grapevine trails. RAW’s own Colleen Casey won the 5K Female Overall in a time of 18:38. Connor Adams won 5K Male Overall for the second consecutive year in a time of 16:23. In the 15K, Fiona Green won the 15K for the third straight
15K Men’s Winner Ken Hall
year in 1:06:42 and RAW’s Ken Hall won overall male in 55:09. This year’s 15K will always be unique with the course being 0.14 miles long due to a small, wrong turn. Finishing times were based
on a 9.44-mile race, instead of 9.3 miles, which is another one for the history books. This year’s race was proof once again the RAW volunteer team is the best, being able to handle this level of event and number of participants. Thank you to the 50-plus volunteers who made this event a huge success. Last of all, this year’s event saw a closure for both race directors (RD), Mike Evans and Jeff “Barney” Barnhart, who are retiring as RDs this year. Mike has led the event for the past five years and Barney has completed two Bold In the Cold events after two years as the Double Trouble race director. But not to worry, the RAW team will be there for next year’s race. This year’s event boldly went where no previous year’s event had gone and all the numbers showed the way. The one number that has not been mentioned enough is the number “1” ― for the best crew in all running clubs. Our crew cannot be challenged for that spot.