Go-Go-Going Concern

Festival of Races’ collegiate competition.

What, you say, you're not a runner? Come
on; it's only 3.1 miles. "It's a short race," Oja urges, "which makes
it very accessible. It's a run for families, hardcore runners and
first-time runners. And from the student perspective, they have the
first part of the semester to train."

If the 5K sounds like too much for you (cough, wimp, cough),
there is also the Fidelis Care 3K Fun and Fitness Run that is “ideal
for youth, novices and casual exercisers because it’s just under 2
miles,” Oja says. “Non-exercisers would be doing themselves a world of
good to run the 3K. It’s fun and it’s not competitive; we don’t record
or publish the results.”

Oja himself was a runner during his
undergraduate years at SU from 1970 to 1974, but the sport was much
different back then. “I was in the minority,” he says. “Running around
Oakwood Cemetery and down Comstock, I was the only guy on my floor in
Watson who ran, other than track members.”

If you’re serious about running, or are
thinking about becoming a serious runner, the Festival of Races is also
an ideal event for you. In 2002, it was the second most competitive 5K
in the world. The 5K is the most popular road race distance in the
world, Oja says.

{mospagebreak}

That year, the first-place time of 13
minutes, 27 seconds was the second fastest 5K run in the world. The
second-place runner, who also had a time of 13:27 but was a few tenths
of a second behind the first-place finisher, recorded the third fastest
5K time in the world; people, that’s a 4:20 pace per mile. The
third-place finisher had the fifth fastest time and the fourth-place
finisher wound up in the top 10. 

“In that one race, we had four of the 10
fastest 5K performances in the world,” Oja says. “Four out of the past
seven years, the Festival of Races has ranked in the top five quality
road races in the world.”

This year, Oja is hoping some runners
will set U.S. records again. Currently the Festival of Races holds 18
American 5K records. Last year, a runner broke the U.S. 5K record for
women over age 70, and Oja is hoping to attract a runner from Maine who
is the first U.S. woman to finish a 5K at age 97. She’s had a birthday
since then, so if she ran at the Festival of Races, “the first woman to
finish a 5K at age 98” would be another notch on the race’s record belt.

If the fund-raising and potential
record-breaking aspects of the race aren’t enough incentive for you to
register, running a 5K is just plain good for you. “Running a race is
an important aspect of a healthful lifestyle and it’s tons of fun,” Oja
says.

And if you are one of the 22 percent of
college students in the area who smoke and are thinking about quitting
or wanting to quit, running at the Festival of Races would be a perfect
start. This year, the Onondaga County Health Department is teaming up
with the Festival of Races to promote smoking cessation. 

“Studies have shown that students who
are more physically active are less likely to smoke,” says Mary Lou
Schweizer, a public health educator for the Onondaga County Health
Department. “We’re really trying to involve first-year students because
they’re more at risk to pick up smoking or increase their smoking to
become a daily smoker.”

The Health Department will be at the
race to hand out smoking cessation information packets and will promote
the New York State Smokers Quit Line, which provides free nicotine
patches and gum to aid with smoking cessation. “We know that a lot of
people in the race won’t be smokers, but they might know someone who
is,” Schweizer says.

The Festival of Races takes place in the
residential streets around Manley Field House, East Colvin Street and
Comstock Avenue, starting at 9 a.m. Race fees for the 5K are $17
through Sept. 28 and $20 on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30; for the 3K, it’s $5
for children under 18, $10 for adults, and $15 for all on Sept. 30. For
more information, visit www.festivalofraces.com or contact Dave Oja at
446-6285 or daveoja@festivalofraces.com.