Cape Region is a great place to live if you’re a runner

The Cape Region ranks near the top in the country in the number of charity run and walk events based on the population of Delaware. There aren’t many locations I know of where there is a road race to choose from every Saturday and Sunday from March to December. In the past few years, it has been a struggle to even find a date for a new organization, and I currently have six to eight on a waiting list hoping someone drops out. Sounds like the Lewes Yacht Club, huh?

Options range from Races2Run to Seashore Striders to Focus Multisports and everything in between. When you add in the Seashore Striders youth cross country team and the middle school and high school cross country, indoor, and outdoor track and field teams, the Cape Region is a mecca for runners. Thousands of dollars are raised each year with events. So many people who live here  have told me they moved to the area because of the running community.  

So here we go again. Here’s a look at the month of March in the Cape running community: 

April Fools Moonlight Flashlight Run 

Set for Saturday, March 3, at 8 p.m. in Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes. Normally, the Fools run is near the first of April, but the schedule would not allow it this year, so I chose to go a month earlier, and, hey, it’s a full moon. We will follow a different format this year with fewer challenges, but the largest challenge will be the darkness. All runners are required to have a light on them and hopefully a communication device. The course will be 3 to 6 miles and will feature plenty of glow-in-the-dark toys. Runners are encouraged to dig out glow-in-the-dark face paint and get ready for some fun. Go to seashorestriders.com for event information.

Lucky Leprechaun 5K

Set for Sunday, March 11, at 11 a.m. at Irish Eyes in Milton. Packet pickup and late registration will take place Saturday, March 10, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Irish Eyes in Milton and also on race morning from 10 to 11 a.m. Irish Eyes is located at 105 Union St. in Milton. The event will benefit the Milton Chamber of Commerce, Milton Fire Department and Gladys Wilkins Seeding the Future Scholarship Fund. Registration is $35, with a $10 guest fee for the post-race party. Go to races2run.com to register.

Shamrock Shuffle 15K & 5K        

Set for Sunday, March 18, at 9 a.m. at the Junction and Breakwater Trail behind Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth. This beautiful course offers runners a 15K option and a 5K option. Custom St. Patrick’s Day awards and cool tech Ts highlight the morning. The 15K is a great tune-up run for the Seashore Half Marathon on Mother’s Day weekend. Go to seashorestriders.com for event information. 

Big South Track & Field                                                         

The Big South Indoor Conference Championships will take part this Friday and Saturday in Lynchburg, Va., to be held at Liberty University’s new state-of-the-art indoor track facility, which opened in January 2017.

According to the Liberty website, the new 169,000-square-foot complex stands beneath the illuminated monogram on Liberty Mountain, standing as a testament to the standard of excellence head coach Brant Tolsma has established for Liberty’s men’s and women’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field programs over the past three decades.

The track itself is the facility’s most dynamic feature and one of only a handful of indoor tracks in the U.S. to offer a six-lane, 200-meter, hydraulically banked oval. Other such tracks are located at Navy, Nebraska, Penn State, Texas A&M and VMI. VMI and Liberty are the only schools to have banked tracks that feature a specially formulated surface manufactured by Beynon, the company that resurfaced Liberty’s outdoor Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex and the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, site of the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

The new complex is nearly triple the size of the previous 60,000-square-foot Tolsma Indoor Track Center in Marie F. Green Hall. It is 425 feet long by 300 feet wide with an arched roof ranging in height from 46 to 66 feet. The configuration of the track layout includes room for all six field events, including the weight throw, shot put and high jump pits located outside the track oval, and the pole vault, long jump and triple jump runways located inside.

The facility is among only a few indoor tracks in the nation large enough to have a second-floor mezzanine area – a spacious loft where competitors can sit or huddle with their teammates and interact with athletes from other schools – above an eight-lane, 100-meter warm-up track straightaway. The mezzanine is on the opposite side of the track from stands that seat nearly 1,500 fans, with the capacity to hold more than 2,500 when track-level portable bleachers are added. The complex is large enough for a maximum occupancy of 5,000, including 2,500 or more athletes.

Other amenities in the facility include a 6,000-square-foot weight room, a 3,000-square-foot training room and underwater treadmill, a coaches’ hospitality room with windows that overlook the track, a concessions area, a press box, a scoreboard with live results and videoboard showing instant replays, ample restrooms, locker rooms and office space.

The indoor track complex is all part of Liberty’s ongoing $500 million campus rebuilding.

One of the assistant track and field coaches at Liberty is former Sussex Tech and Liberty standout Rebekah Ricksecker.

Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic

One of the largest largest events in the United States, the Gasparilla Distance Classic, will take place this weekend in Tampa, Fla., with an expected 50,000 runners to toe the line. On Saturday, the 15K, 5K, 5K stroller roll, and 5K walk will all take place, while on Sunday the featured half marathon and 8K will take place. Runner 26352 will be my son, Jake, who finished seventh last weekend in his first sprint triathlon. He will race the 8K, a distance he has not raced since the Masser 5-Miler many years ago. An interesting side note is that the half marathon has a $30,000 purse, but with one catch – you must be an American to collect any money. Over and out!