Off and running

36th festival draws record field, excites crowd

The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn AND THEY'RE OFF: Runners begin the Spa 10K during the Spa Running Festival on Convention Boulevard Saturday morning.
The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn AND THEY'RE OFF: Runners begin the Spa 10K during the Spa Running Festival on Convention Boulevard Saturday morning.

The annual Spa Running Festival pulled record attendance numbers Saturday morning, drawing participants from across the United States along with state and local runners.

The festival, which was held for the 36th consecutive year, drew a grand total of 1,548 runners in all four of its races, race director Cindy Baswell said. It is the festival's highest total attendance in its history and a 17.8-percent increase from its 2016 attendance of 1,314.

Baswell said her festival's numbers gave her "a lot of excitement."

"It's great to see so many people here," she said.

The festival, which kicked off at 7 a.m. Saturday, included a 5K, a 10K, a half marathon and Spa Squirt 1K race. The festival is known for its half marathon, which takes runners to the summit of West Mountain in Hot Springs National Park.

Baswell said runners traveled from a total of 28 states to run in the festival's races, including Maryland, Florida and California.

While some runners traveled from coastal and northern states to compete in the races, others came from bordering states like Tennessee, Louisiana and Oklahoma, including Jennifer Sloan from Tulsa, Okla.

"A couple of my girlfriends were coming down to do the half, and they asked me -- I guess it was Monday -- if I wanted to come down and do it with them," Sloan said.

Sloan called the h alf marathon a "great race." She said she especially enjoyed how much of its second half was downhill.

Sloan also enjoyed the nature surrounding the course.

"The leaves were beautiful, the weather was gorgeous," she said. "I saw three deer -- they popped out of the woods."

Runners also traveled within the state to compete in the Spa Running Festival. Zach Lewis, of Little Rock, traveled with his running club, the Little Rock Roadrunners, to compete in the 10K.

Lewis echoed Sloan, calling the 10K a "great race" as well.

"There's a lot of hills," Lewis said, noting the race's difficulty. "I was a little taken aback by it, but it's definitely a respectable course."

The festival's races featured runners from Hot Springs and its surrounding areas, as well. One of them was Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Joey Williams, who turned in a time of 22 minutes and 18 seconds in the 5K -- the best 5K time in the male 40 to 44 age category.

Williams said the race was important to him.

"As a guy who, three years ago, weighed over 300 pounds, it's about proving to myself that I can do it and I can finish," he said. "I want to prove to people that if I can do it, they can do it also."

Williams said the race was "lots of fun," and said people have "gotta come out and do it" in 2018.

While she was pleased with this year's festival, Baswell said she still plans on improving it for 2018. She specifically wants higher attendance numbers for the half marathon.

"That would be an opportunity for us to look at. We were very well pleased with the 10K and the 5K.

"We're just excited that it was such a successful event," she said. "We had so many runners and walkers come and just enjoy their weekend in Hot Springs."

Local on 11/19/2017

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