Pine Belt Pacers Forum

A couple of months ago I posted about a group that wanted to put on a 10K that would begin and end in downtown Hattiesburg. There were several Pacers who indicated an interest in being involved with the planning and administration of this event. I forwarded the names of interested people to the organizers of the event---and then I never heard anything from them until a week or so ago when they emailed me asking for the use of our clock and help with putting on the race. I told them our clock was already reserved for the Heneleyfield 10K on the same date of their race (November 7) and that Hollie and I would not be available to help them.

Today I got a call from them asking for help in plotting a 10K course. I think they are also planning to do a 5K walk.

Are there any of you who would like to help them with plotting, measuring and marking a course? If so, please post here and I will let them know.

Hubby Don says he will help with plotting and measurements and perhaps some other planning although not race day stuff as he plans to run.
Let me know how he can be hooked up with the appropriate people.

sheryl c.

Thanks Sheryl and Don. I have sent an email to Darian Pierce who is the contact person and advised him to contact you two. If you don't hear from him in a day or two let me know. I may be sending you his phone number as I think Robin has it and hopefully, he can get it to me. Also, Ben Hughes---if you have Darian's number, please email it to me.

Since this is coming up during the first weekend in November, I want to provide an update based on what I know. I have seen signs on campus and heard people talking about the event so it is certainly going to go on. Don spent some time both discussing and measuring a proposed course through downtown. Some of it is similar to the BCAT course in that it goes on Mobile street - although Don's proposed course went further on Mobile before turning off. However, Don mapped several crossings of the railroad tracks in downtown Hattiesburg - in part because of the desired location of the start and finish near the Volunteer house on Buschman Street (right across from the depot). His biggest concern is the train that comes at about 9:15 or so on Saturdays that could impact race finishers. (When Don mapped the course he was unaware that the start time was a non-negotiable 8:30 a.m.). Depending on your pace and how long the train takes to pass, this might or might not be a problem but I have to think it could be really bad for lots of runners, especially if the race starts late and/or the train is early or late. I personally would not be happy to find that I not only lose a few minutes to a train but that I also end up competing at the finish against someone who was minutes behind me on the course and caught up while I was waiting for the train to pass. (Something like this happened in a bike race a few years ago and a lot of riders were very unhappy - including those who were disqualified for jumping the tracks after the gate was down.)

But, here is a disclaimer to above - Don has not heard back for weeks so he does not know if the race will follow his proposed course. As of today I am not certain whether I will participate or not - and this decision is made a little tougher by the Shamrock 5km the following day - as that is a race I have always enjoyed doing in the past in part due to the very supportive and enthused helpers along the course. If anyone knows anything more about the downtown 10km, I invite your response on this forum.

sheyrl c.

The group that is putting on this event does not seem open to suggestions, but that never stopped me from making one. I have been involved with races where trains have delayed runners and something that I have done was to have a volunteer stationed at the crossing (no, I'm not going to suggest that the volunteer stop the train) and the volunteer could start a watch as soon as the 1st delayed person arrived at the crossing. As runners arrived at the crossing, the volunteer could give them a time of arrival and then a time of departure so that each runner would know how long they had been delayed. They would then relay the information to whomever is calculating awards. If they wanted to be even more accurate the volunteer could record the individual runner's time delay and take it to the awards people who could then determine if the delay had impacted the awards. I know this sounds complicated, but it did work without too many issues.

I recall one time that there was a 5K in downtown Hattiesburg. I think Vicki C and I were running fairly close together and we both saw the train coming and were able to spint enough that we got across before the train arrived at the crossing. Others were not so lucky.

This is just me, but I just don't think it is a good idea to have runners trying to cross tracks and outsprint a train! Even with a person posted near the tracks, someone will get crazy, (as most runners do)! I am going to stay far away from this race, but everyone can make up their own mind.

I may regret this, but after consideration, I have pretty much decided to do the 10 km race. There are not that many 10 kms close (this will be the closest) and I do like the idea of running through downtown Hattiesburg. However, as was my philosophy during the BCAT race (downtown, 6 p.m., no formal traffic control), I will not do anything stupid (like try to outrun a train or even a car). I am hoping that miles and directions are well marked and I'll do what I can. It may be one of those race results that I want to add an * to (as in - *lost ten minutes waiting for the train to move).

Other races of mine that that need footnotes include the 2007 Run for Love - *volunteer standing in the grass by Loyalty Field neglected to tell two of us to turn there,so we went on up to 4th street and ran a slightly longer race; the 2007 Oxford Double Decker race - *volunteer on course at a corner silently watched 3 of us take a wrong turn and then double back after other runners corrected us; 2008 Powerman *the run course went through the orange barrels blocking the road but some of the runners, including me, thought that a roadblock was there to block the road; 2006 Andrew Jackson marathon - *after slowing down in a failed attempt to look for arrows in the road, I managed to get directions to the finish from the female winner who was on her way back to her hotel room in her car.

On the other hand, the downtown 10 km race could go off promptly and the train could be late that day. Anyway, safety first is my motto!

sheryl c.

I'll be doing the 10K, but am apprehensive about the train issue. I'm sure I'll be stopped by it, so I'll do one of two things to get my 'official' time. One, when I stop for the train, I'll hit the lap button while waiting, and hit it again once I start moving forward. Or I'll stop and restart the Garmin.

This will be my first 10K, so hopefully the stars will line up and the train will not interfere with my run. One could hope....

The proposed course (with train crosses) has been rejected. Don has recommended an alternate course that crosses the tracks between miles 2 and 3 - giving anyone doing the 10km up to 45 minutes to cover 2 to 3 miles.

I may volunteer to mark the course - especially if I can get the same kind of 'magic' tape that Dr. Velasquez used for the Homecoming race (as someone else said, 'those marks will probably be there until March'). The biggest problems with the revised course involve the number of turns. I would rather put arrows on the road than not be certain if there are any.

Don plans to complete more precision measuring (on a bicycle) this weekend. Watch this space for more updates.

sheryl c.

Okay, I just registered for this because I thought I remember it was a PBP measured event but after reading this I'm feeling apprehensive. Has anyone gotten an update on the course, train track crossings, etc.?

The course has been remeasured and should be pretty accurate but I believe they are still waiting for HPD to approve the route (the last one was rejected). I am not all that confident about the level of organization but I also registered for it so I'll see y'all there!

If you want a quality 10K with an accurately measured course (I measured and marked it) go to Henleyfields for their race. They also have a pancake breakfast included in the entry fee, a nice goodie bag and country crafts. If it were not that Oak Grove will be at the state xc meet Saturday, I'd be running it. Details are on our website.

The revised course was ok'd. It crosses the main train line just after mile 2, usually at around 9:15 - or 45 minutes after the race start. The route also crosses some other lines (sidetracks?) later in the race so I do not know if there is any risk of train on those.

Don and I plan to mark the course with tape in the road on Friday a.m. Although I have never marked a course, I am pretty good at getting lost so presumably the course will be marked well enough for me to follow (which means that it should work for about anyone else, too).

There are also plans for mile markers and volunteers along the course. It is flat to rolling and goes along some tree-lined streets near downtown that I had never seen before.

We will be there and look forward to seeing anyone who shows up for this. I have to say that, despite the extra work involved in plotting a second course, I feel a lot better knowing that we don't have the train crossing so late in the race.

sheryl c.

We marked the course this a.m. (red duct tape on the road). I plan to ride it before the race tomorrow to make certain all is visible. Traffic was much heavier than I expected (we started shortly after 7 and finished at about 9:30) so was not just tied to work/school hours.

We marked all of the turns (before and after) but did not mark the straight roads at every intersection, so if you are running this race, stay straight unless you see a turn marked - we tried to put 2-3 arrows and make them on both sides of the road. We did mark a couple of straight lines where the road curved and on Railroad Street when the road narrows. I also indicated the miles with tape stripes and volunteers are going to put up mile marker signs. I even marked mile #6 but don't know if there will be a sign. There is one place where the two courses - 5 km walk and 10 km run - split so we formed a rough 10 and a 5 out of tape in the road at that point.

My bike measured this as a bit long today (6.25) but Don was right on based on his odometer. I took the longest way around all of the corners and most people will probably cut them closer so I am going to assume the course is close to accurate.

There are 70+ registered but I do not know the breakdown between the 5 km walk and the 10 km run. One of my students is involved in talks about two more possible 5 km races downtown next year - one might be tied into the HubFest and/or another related to the 100th birthday of the depot. There are a lot of nice roads and areas downtown and I think that many of us are tired of running on the Trace so I hope that we continue to see races planned in downtown Hattiesburg.

sheryl c.

When all was said and done, this was quite a learning experience. Here are some of the things I learned:

-Trains can come early (about 1/2 hr) as well as late
-It doesn't matter how many arrows you put on the road if course volunteers are given incorrect information and tell racers to go the wrong way (Aaron Gaithright, me, husband Don and Charles Jackson all ran at least 6.2 miles and perhaps a little longer than that based on my calculations; most of the rest of the racers ran 5.5 miles due to the elimination of about two blocks of the course)
-You can put tape lines in the road to mark the mile markers and the signs may still end up in the wrong places

and, most importantly,

-Runners/racers in this area have overwhelmingly positive attitudes and are very good spirited about the multitude of things that can go 'wrong.'

On behalf of Don and myself - even though our involvement was limited to course design - I would really like to thank all of the Pacers and others who ran yesterday and were so complimentary about the course (it was attractive and a pleasant change from the straight lines of the LongLeaf Trace) and so forgiving about the not quite 10 km distance that most people ran.

This group plans to repeat this event (and to work to improve quality) and I also have heard about two possible 5 kms in the works for downtown in spring of 2010 (one of my therapeutic recreation students is involved in this and she is very aware of the importance of trying to pick a date when there are not already 4 other races planned). I think that it is very important to bring events of this type to downtown Hattiesburg (runs and walks) in order to connect with and hopefully inspire some of the folks who don't live near campus or the Trace (although one of these days the Trace should extend to downtown) to get involved in some physical activity. We also want to work toward inclusion of people with different levels of ability in future events through shorter distance and/or walk options.

This was my second race in downtown Hattiesburg (after the BCAT earlier this fall) and I have to say that both offered a different type of challenge than Trace or Campus courses but both times I found myself having a lot of fun. There is something unique about going through city streets where races are not the norm and seeing the responses of people who are trying to figure out where these crazy running folks came from! It is obvious to me from reading some of the old newsletters linked on the Pacers sight that there used to be a lot of variety of running events here and I think it is great to see some more distance and location opportunities occurring now.

sheryl c.