Running Shorts

It’s already been voted one of the best road race in the Southeast, but Mike McCormick wants more.
He’s pushing to get the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K named one of the top 25 road races in the world.
Sheer numbers will do it, he says, and he is hoping the new disposable chips will do the trick.
Last year, some 30,000-plus signed up to run the Richmond race, but many opted not to wear their timing chips. Maybe they were walkers. Maybe they didn’t want to run the risk or expense of losing their old tie-to-the-shoelaces chips. At any rate, when all was said and done, the “official” number of finishers was clocked in at 24,055.
“Many opted out of using them, but now with the disposable timing chips, they don’t have to worry,“ McCormick said. “It will be a lot easier.“
It will be a lot easier to determine exactly how many people cross the finish line in the 10th annual race in the picturesque Fan District.
Right now, McCormick is predicting 35,000, which would put the 10K in the upper ranks of globe-wise participatory races.
It’s a lot of fun, no matter if you’re a professional runner (Teferi Bacha from Ethiopia was five seconds faster than a pair of Kenyans with a winning time of 28 minutes, 29 seconds) or a cancer survivor who is just as happy to walk the distance. (Last year, runners raised more than $500,000 for the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center.)
There are folks who run in costume, there will be bands, fans and, of course, the Dash for the Cash. One lucky runner’s name will be pulled at random and given a 2.4-mile head start over the first wave of elite runners. If he or she crosses the finish line first, he or she will be a couple of thousand dollars richer. Forty-two-year-old Kimberly Taylor came close last year at 29.11. Sorry, Bacha took home the extra cash.
Check it out at http://www.sportbackers.org. Race day is March 28.
It costs $25 if you register before Feb. 1 ... or before the field fills up.