Running ‘smoothly’

Two years down, many more to go.
The Run Jay County 5K Circuit completed its second year in September, and its organizers are already looking forward to a stronger 2017.
“Year two obviously went a little more smoothly,” said Kyle Cook, executive director at Jay Community Center, which sponsors the race circuit.
The circuit consists of eight races throughout Jay County — four in Portland, two in Dunkirk and one each in Pennville and Bryant. Participants who completed half of them, whether as a runner or a walker, were eligible for the circuit awards depending on their age group. How each individual finished corresponds with a point total, and whomever has the most points at the end is deemed the winner for that age group.
Cook said that prior to the circuit, many of the races would attract runners from out of the county. However, the number of local residents increased following the inception of the circuit.
“That is the thing I would notice the most,” he said. “We’re getting a higher percentage of local runners instead of having to rely on bringing people into town.”
There were 478 participants total for the eight races. The Firecracker 5K at Jay County Fairgrounds had the most finishers with 118. The Loblolly 5K in Bryant had the fewest with 30.
There were 27 who completed the four-race minimum to meet the circuit requirements.
Portland resident Denice Bell was the overall points winner. She completed all eight races, was first in her age group in six of them and finished with 100 total points.
“This is the second year that I won overall points and it is a great feeling,” she said. “I hope to inspire more people to join us. It definitely makes registering for the next races a lot easier when you see the leaderboard.”
Miller’s Merry Manor in Dunkirk was given a Community Impact Award for having four of its staff members finish the circuit.
“This year, we’re looking at hopefully getting more businesses involved,” Cook said, adding that he hopes to have a number of companies to get their employees to participate in order to both help build the total numbers of circuit participants but also have them compete against one another, similar to the JCC Corporate Challenge.
“I guess the ultimate goal would be to get a lot more community buy-in and make it something every business knows about,” Cook said.
Jay Community Center sponsored four races on its own — Sprint to Spring, Firecracker 5K, the Hudson Family Park 5K and half marathon and the Patriot Run. The Glass Days 5K and Zack Hummer Memorial 5K/10K races in Dunkirk, as well as the Pennville Lions 5K and the Loblolly Marsh 5K in Bryant all stood on their own. The circuit ensured there would be no scheduling conflicts so as to not take away any potential participants.
Also by having them all under the same umbrella, Cook said that allowed each race to become more marketable to the community.
“I would like to see some of the smaller races get over that hump and get some more traction,” he said.
The Patriot Run, an obstacle-based run at Jay County Recreation Complex that Cook said was thrown together in about a month because it was a last-minute replacement, had the second-fewest participants with 32.
“We’re working with possible ideas on how to promote that next year,” he said, while noting it may just become a trail run because of insurance purposes of an obstacle course.
“The Glass Days 5K might have 40 to 60 runners, but before the circuit (it) might have only had 15,” Cook said. “It is a really small race but they’re really happy with how it’s growing.”
And if the circuit expands how Cook hopes it will, those numbers for each race will continue to rise.
“If we were averaging 50 or 60 people completing each race just for the circuit that is going to help each race,” he said.
“The circuit is a great opportunity for the community to get together and support each other, make new friends and set goals,” Bell said.
Cook is also looking at adding to the number races, but finding new routes may be a challenge.
“I know we’d like to add new routes,” he said. “We don’t want to add new races so that you’re running the same route every week.”
A possible option for a new route, Cook said, is in Redkey, where there currently is not a 5K race.
As it is scheduled now, the first event, Sprint to Spring, will be in early April. There isn’t another circuit race until early June. It would be ideal, he said, to have two races a month. There are already two races scheduled for the months of June, July and August.
Cook is also interested in coming up with new ideas of races to add, or bring back, such as a night run like the former Dave Miller Memorial Glow Run that used to go through the fairgrounds. That race, he said, was once of the more expensive because of the overhead costs.
Participation waned, and the entry fee hardly covered the candles necessary to illuminate the path and other costs associated with setting it up.
“If we got more sponsorships we could lower the cost,” he said.