Fair Park Administration Newsletter Spring 2009
Be among the first to give Fair Park the runaround.
Test your speed at inaugural TX TOUGH Ultra Relay & 5K Fun Run.
What does it take to be TX TOUGH? Some running shoes, love for kids and desire to help make a difference…that’s it! The first-ever TX TOUGH Ultra Relay & 5K Fun Run is coming to Fair Park on Sunday, March 29, and it will be unlike any athletic event in the Metroplex.
This event is a pledge-fundraiser dedicated exclusively to raising money for Children’s Medical Center and will be the first running event ever held completely within Fair Park. Roland Rainey, Cotton Bowl Manager, couldn’t be more excited. “Runners will have a chance to dash past all the museums, the Cotton Bowl, Superpages.com Center, thru the Midway, Esplanade and every other attraction within Fair Park. It’s Fair Park like you’re never seen it before: speeding by!”
The event is held before Fair Park museums open for the day, so Ultra Relay and 5K runners have the whole place to themselves. “There are other relay races around Dallas throughout the year,” says Eric Lindberg, principal of D/FW Runs, a marketing company that specializes in everything running. “But the unique geography of this event will make it a whole new experience and challenge for runners…especially those who have been a part of the running community for a long time and participated in just about every run event Dallas has had to offer.”
Plenty of victorious moments.
Teams of 4 to 7 members run in seven legs that make up the long distance relay. The total distance (50K) is comprised of three-10K and four-5K legs run in an alternating format beginning with a 5K. Competitors can do any combination of the various legs or designate a team member for each leg. For example, three team members each run 10K legs and four team members each run 5K legs. No experience is necessary. “There’s a lot of alternating and baton-passing going on,” says Geoff Godsey, Executive Director of TX TOUGH. “There’s something for everyone—long and short distance runners alike.” All baton changes take place on the Cotton Bowl field, which means a triumphant feeling for participants as they make their way down the famous “tunnel” onto the field. Says Mr. Godsey, “When I walked down that tunnel for the first time, I knew the Cotton Bowl was the only place for this event. It’s as close to an “Olympic” sense of excitement and energy as you can get!”
Runners will be displayed on the Cotton Bowl’s massive JumboTron that was part of its recent renovations. “We are so fortunate the City of Dallas and its Park & Recreation Department have rolled out the red carpet, giving us the opportunity to utilize all the technological capabilities now available at the Cotton Bowl,” states Mr. Godsey.
The goal is 5,000 runners…and while very ambitious for an event in its first year, this figure is fast becoming a reality as teams have begun registering. Groups registering range from corporations to members of various clubs, to friends who want to walk a 5K together or team up and pass a baton in the relay. Each relay team member will take home a baton and perhaps even a share of the $25,000 cash purse to be distributed among the Top 20 finishing teams.
Beyond the TX TOUGH Ultra Relay, there is a Bike stage in late September and a Swim stage in June. Both also offer varying distances and are designed for someone who might be doing something for the first time, or someone with a lot of experience who considers themselves a fierce competitor. Completing all the stages could be a triathlete’s dream, but participants can choose to enter any of the stages they want. In 2008, the Bike stage was the first-ever TX TOUGH event produced, and was immediately an unqualified success with more than 105 fund-raising teams involved. “Our goal is the make the TX TOUGH Tour (all three stages) the largest athletic-style event in Texas,” states Mr. Lindberg.
Texas Tough means swift money-raising for Children’s Medical Center.
One thing all TX TOUGH competitors have in common is that they raise money for Children’s Medical Center. “We hope to raise more than $1 million this year from the three stages, and 100% of this money goes to Children’s Medical Center,” says Mr. Godsey. “The formula is simple: each participant pledges to raise $300 and has until November 15th of this year to complete the pledge; we are a asking a lot of people to do a little bit, each translating into something that will make a huge impact on the kids and families at Children’s.” Teams even decide which Children’s program, service or clinic they’d like the dollars they raise to benefit! One team that a part of last year’s event—aptly named Team PKU—was created by the parents of a child diagnosed with PKU, a metabolic disease. One of the top fundraising teams, they raised more than $17,000…all of which was designated to the metabolism program at Children’s to help other kids and families with PKU.
There’s still time to enter the TX TOUGH Ultra Relay & 5K Fun Run and take part in what will be a memorable tour of Fair Park. “If we can bring 15,000 people to Fair Park, they might come back here for other events throughout the year, and that will be wonderful,” states Roland Rainey. “And if they are helping kids and families at Children’s Medical Center at the same time, even better.”
For more information, visit the TX TOUGH web site.