Course Information
BIG WILD LIFE RUNS CHANGES COURSE: One of the most exciting aspects of this year's Big Wild Life Runs is a change in course structure to better support the thousand or so individuals who will participate in 2010. Heidi Beer, the BWL Runs committee member entrusted with much of the course design, says that the Anchorage Running Club made the decision to alter the BWL courses to pull the focus downtown, where a common start and finish will provide racers and spectators with needed space. "We want to encourage everyone to make a day of it," Beer says. "Like an Italian piazza, we're offering food, music, and tons of room for people to cheer on the racers." It's about community as much as racing, for sure.
Everyone starts and finishes downtown, Beer says, but instead of immediately branching off into the Coastal and Chester Creek trail systems, runners will loop around Anchorage streets before hitting the Alaskan wilderness. "I think it's great to offer racers the opportunity to see a little of our city's history and some of the nature they desire as well," Beer says. "That's what our visiting participants want, and we're lucky to have it."
Before the course layout is a done deal, however, some careful measuring needed to be done. As a USA Track and Field sanctioned course, the distances must be measured according to USATF standards, and then certified. To provide a rough estimate, Anchorage Running Club committee members first ran the course with a GPS system, then tracked the course again, this time using a Jones counter attached to the front of a bicycle. Exact distance is important, says Beer, so the USATF certification, and the race, can commence without a hitch, especially, she emphasizes, since the marathon is a Boston-qualifying event.
From the BWLR insert into the July 2010 edition of the Alaska Coast Magazine.
Additional Information/Directions
Snow City 5K
Skinny Raven Half Marathon
Humpy's Marathon/Marathon Walk/Marathon Relay
Downtown Anchorage Map
