Thank you to everyone that supported Fishtown Preservation—as a Fishtown 5K participant, volunteer, sponsor or cheerleader. All that were involved helped make this year’s 5K a record breaker, which is critical to preserving Fishtown.
This year our Fish Costume Contest was also a great success, and so much fun. Dozens of racers wore “fish” attire. Unique medals were given to the top three fish to cross the finish line and to the three best costumes. The three costume winners also received a gift basket, which included gift items from the Fishtown Welcome Center and from our costume sponsor Two Fish Gallery. Fish costume participants that didn’t win an award where surprised at the Award Ceremony with a giant lollipop donated by the Dam Candy Store.
Our volunteers and sponsors are priceless, and we couldn’t do it without each of them! The Leland Yacht Club again hosted the course water station with a fantastic group of volunteers. Also, this year we had residents along the 5K route share in the fun and cheer on the racers. We also appreciate our media friends for their support. Including, Mickey Fivenson (77), race participant and author of Traverse City Runner—Running for Better Health in Northern Michigan. Click to read article and see great photos—and learn more about Mickey’s experience, and his world record.
AT A GLANCE:
• 761 Race Registrants (Best-Ever!)
• 654 Racers—that Endurance Evolution timed crossing the Finish Line
• 36 Volunteers
• 3 Costume Judges – Malcolm Chatfield (Leland Artist and owner of Tug Stuff shop), Greta Stimson (owns Greta’s of Leland shop), Paula Alflen (manager at Leelanau Books
• 20 Sponsors – Click and scroll down to see sponsor list.
Thank you for the great photos—Claire Kurnick, Heidi Tagg, Marsha Brunett and Amanda Holmes:
I really enjoyed the race route and the wonderful people that cheered us on. Surprisingly many people living along the route came out and gave us friendly encouragement. I do think that the starting time via the chip (not recorded) should have been substracted from the finish time which was recorded. I started towards the back ( recovering from injury) and by the time I reached the start line about one minute 15 seconds had elapsed thus increasing my recorded race time. I realize you did not expect almost 800 people but I was disappointed in my recorded time. It made my comparison to people starting more toward the front inaccurate and I probably would have moved up in my age group. Most 5K races I have run record the start and finish times and subtract the two. Thanks for a wonderful time and I like helping Fishtown.
This was a fun run overall. My biggest disappointment was no finisher medal to add to my collection. Yes, they cost money. I get that this is a fund raiser and that is an extra expense. I run a fair number of races and this is only the second time I went home without that memorabilia. What I don’t need is another T-shirt!