5K Race Info
The Start
The 5k will start at 7:00 AM. As the start is a few minutes walk away from Kiwanis Park, you need to plan on walking southwest of Kiwanis at least 10-15 minutes before 7:00AM. In order to accommodate the large number of runners and to give each of you more room to run, we are narrowing the start line. The narrowed start line will only allow about 600 runners a minute to cross the start line. This should give each of you plenty of room to run once you get across the start line. We will have signs to help you position yourself according to your expected running pace. Once again, our goal is to make the start line narrower than the road so that once you cross the start line you can spread out and have room to run. While it will take longer to get everyone started, we believe that everyone will have a more enjoyable and safer run. Since you will have a timing chip, your time will start when you cross the start line. Note: A slower runner who begins too early will have packs of runners bumping past them. This isn’t fun for anyone. Be safe and position yourself with the appropriate pace sign. Runners pushing or pulling wheeled devices will start last of all.
The Course
The 5K course starts about 8 blocks south west of Kiwanis Park. (This catches a lot of people off guard!) It takes a few minutes to get there from Kiwanis Park, so plan some extra time on race morning to make that happen. Packet pickup is exclusively at Kiwanis Park, so if you are picking up on race morning, you need to allow time for the jaunt to the 5K start. It takes about 15 minutes of brisk walking to get from packet pickup at the Kiwanis pavilion to the 5K start. There will be a few porta-potties at the 5K start for those with last minute emergencies. Be prepared for a good sized crowd, a bit of music, the national anthem, and a nice run.
The start is directly south of BYU on 800 North at about 380 East and the duck ponds. You will run west toward University Avenue. As you turn left at University Avenue, you will be on the route of the Grand Parade with those tens or hundreds of thousands of spectators cheering you on. Instead of turning on Center as in past years, you will follow the parade route all the way through. You will turn left on 1st South and then left again on 2nd East. On Center, you will turn right. Please follow the markings on the cones as we will have separate turn lanes for 5K runners and 10K runners. As you head east on Center Street you will notice that it is slightly up-hill. Don’t push too hard here, because when you turn left onto Ninth East, you face a progressively increasing incline. It really isn’t steep, but it can feel like it! The last quarter mile back to Kiwanis will take your breath away where you can rejoice (collapse) at the finish line.
Click here to see the map of the race
Awards
Awards and cash prizes are given to the top three male and female finishers: $300 to the winners, $200 to 2nd place and $100 to 3rd place. In addition we have age group awards in the following categories: 1-9,10-12, 13-15, 16-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, and so on till 65-69, and then 70+ for both male and female. With the race starting at 7:00, we hope to start doing awards at 8:00 at our band stand.
Timing
Timing is done via “chip” timing. Each participant will receive an RFID chip that they will ziptie to their shoe. This technology allows us to capture the time from when you cross the start line till when you cross the finish line. Make sure you don’t lose you chip. We need them back at the end of the race!
Finisher Medals
We will have finisher medals this year. They are similar to last year…super cool with a built in spinner and keyring.
Post Race Food
We will load up on post-race refreshments. It is tough to have a full selection of everything by the end of the race. No guarantees, but we will do our best to keep everything stocked to the very end.
On-Course Water Stations
The 5K has two on-course water stations. One just before the 1M mark and another just after the 2M mark. We want to keep you hydrated!
Starting etiquette
We were really happy with our pace signs at the starting line last year. These tall signs let everyone know about where in the crowd they should position themselves for the narrow start. When you get to the start area, look for a pace sign that matches your intended pace. If you are a 5 minute miler, head to the 5 minute pace sign. If you are a 10 minute miler, head to that sign… and so on. We also have a “Walker” pace sign! Please note the wave start info at the top of this page.
Strollers
If you intend to have a wheeled device (stroller), we require that you start with the other wheeled devices after everyone else has gone. Strollers can really jam up the works and we really don’t want any collisions between runners and strollers. Please be very attentive of all the runners and walkers around you.
Chairperson(s): Scott Summers - summers@byu.edu, Craig Simons - jcraigsimons@gmail.com
