Syracuse.com - Syracuse Festival of Races: It's all about the race course

[HuntingNY-News]

"This race has a tremendous history of allowing runners of all levels of experience to go as fast as their current level of fitness allows," Aja said.

It's all about the course.

That's race director David Oja explained this week when talking about Sunday morning's Syracuse Festival of Races. All races begin and end at Manley Field House on the Syracuse University campus.

The schedule includes a 5K run for men, a 5K run for women, 3K fun run and a 3K community walk. The event is being held concurrently with the U.S. National Masters Championship, meaning that there will be national-level, 5K competition in age-group categories, starting at 40 years and up, he said.

"This race has a tremendous history of allowing runners of all levels of experience to go as fast as their current level of fitness allows," Aja said.

Why is that so?

Aja said the relatively flat course has a marked path - actually 283, hand-painted dashes on the road - that show runners the shortest possible distance they have to run to complete a 5K.

It all started in 2004, he said, when four of 20 fastest 5K runs in the country were recorded at the Syracuse Festival of Races. Looking at the results and watching the race, Oja said, it was noted that the runners who recorded those times could have run even faster if they had run the shortest possible distance on the course.

"I made up my mind to create a way to remind the runners what the shortest way home in the race is, giving them the maximum benefit," he said.

He also has tried to keep the field in the men's and women's 5K runs small, to eliminate the slow-downs that occur with big groups of runners at the start of the race. This year, the two runs will feature about 450 racers each, he said.

Aja notes that word has gotten around in the racing world, as competitors are coming to the Syracuse Festival of Races from 23 states across the country and Canada. To sweeten the deal, the Masters competition will offer $10,000 in prize money, and the open competition will offer some cash and prizes as well.

"Participants in this year's event will range in age from 3 to 87, and in ability from first-time road race participants to national champions and world record holders," Aja said.

The action kicks off at 8:50 a.m. Sunday with the men's 5K. For more on the races, check out the event's website at festivalofraces.com.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog