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Festival run has perks for kids, schools
Students get a price break when entering. Schools can win money.
By JON WILSON
Published April 16, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - School-age youngsters get an entry fee break and schools can win cash prizes at this year's Harvey's 5K Festival Run, the annual footrace preceding the Festival of States Night Parade. The 5K race starts at 6:30 p.m. May 12, a Friday. The parade is at 8 p.m. Pinellas County public and private school youngsters 18 or younger will pay $5 to enter either the 5K race or the 6:15 p.m. 1-mile fun run. (Advance entry for everyone else is $15 for the 5K and $10 for the mile; race day registration increases to $20 for the 5K.) The five schools entering the most students will get cash awards ranging from $50 to $150, said Marilyn Littlejohn, race committee co-chair. A fixture in St. Petersburg since the 1980s, the race is on a Friday for the second year. That and its monetary incentives could double the field from last year's 300 to 400, Littlejohn said. As usual, runners will use much of the parade route. The race starts in front of the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, curls into the North Shore pool area and loops back past the starting line. Runners follow Bayshore Drive and turn right on Central Avenue, charging west to Seventh Street, where they will turn and retrace their steps to the finish at the Vinoy. Computer-chip timing, a certified course and the Festival Health Pavilion are other features. The pavilion, open in North Straub Park from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., will offer products and chances to sample them, vendors, and postrace sports massages. The festival footraces have established themselves as a tradition, with only the venerable Bay-to-Bay race and the noncompetitive Jingle Bell Run boasting older roots in St. Petersburg. The festival race began as a Saturday morning event sponsored by Ed White Hospital. In 1988, it became Harvey's Festival Run, sponsored by restaurateur Dan Harvey. The first Tuesday night run was in 1989, with the switch to Friday coming last year. Entry forms are available by calling the Festival of States at (727) 321-9888 or at Feet First Running Store, 3487 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg. Late registration is at 4 p.m. on race day in North Straub Park. As usual, the overall men's and women's winners will ride the Harvey's float in the parade.
[Last modified April 16, 2006, 08:46:38]
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