Last year's race drew 5,152 runners to the Paper City
Runners take to the streets at a past Holyoke St. Patrick's Road Race.The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Road Race has made a few changes for this year’s event, and believe it or not, those changes will make the region’s most popular race better than ever.
And to top everything off, as a little twist, this year’s race is on St. Patrick’s Day.
The 37th annual 10K race will be held Saturday, March 17, with its traditional 1 p.m. start on Maple Street.
“It happens about once every seven years, and it just so happens our major sponsor, Peoples Bank, was founded on St. Patrick’s Day,” said Mike Zwirko, who serves as race director with Mike Tierney.
The race committee made a long list of adjustments for this year’s race, which had 4,000 registered runners as of late February. Last year’s race drew 5,152 runners.
The race’s new website is www.runholyoke.com, and Race Wire of Boston has been hired to do the timing. There will also be large timing clocks at every mile marker. Most notably, though, the race will now have a central location.
Race committee member Eric Suher has opened his doors at 143 Maple Street, which will serve as race headquarters and give the entire race a centralized spot.
“What it does is it answers some of the suggestions we’ve received from last year and years before, including from one, Peoples Bank, which is our major sponsor,” Zwirko said. “Everything is going to be right there. We’ve had meetings with the police department and they’re thrilled that we’re going to have everything confined, so they can have more control.”
Runners will be given the chance to pick up their T-shirts and bib numbers Friday, March 16, noon-7 p.m. at the headquarters, and Saturday 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“People can come on their lunch break or during the afternoon up until 7 Friday to pick up their bib number and T-shirt,” Zwirko said. “That’s a huge window. Last year we had a much smaller window and we had 2,000 people come. The more we can push for people to come Friday, the better. People can pick up for other runners, also. It just makes for less of a hassle on Saturday.”
There’s also been a push over the years for a walk, and this year the race committee came up with a route.
Walkers will start immediately after the runners and travel along a 3.5-mile course, which will conclude at the finish line of the race. The walk will not include the hills near Holyoke Community College.
“We’re happy with the changes,” Zwirko said. “We’ll see. I’m sure there will be more suggestions. Our goal is to try to improve every year. It’s not like we’re saying ‘If you don’t like the race, don’t’. We’re runner-friendly and community-friendly.”
The race committee even made a change for the day’s youngest participants, with the course for the popular kids’ race being altered.
“We used to have them up hill to the finish line,” Zwirko said. “That’s a busy time because we’re trying to get the finish line set up for the race Last year we had 700 kids and I didn’t think we were going to get the finish line set up in time for the 10K race. It was real touch and go there last year. “This year we’re going to have the fun run on a flat surface, near race headquarters. They’ll run straight along Maple Street for a block, right where the mummers will do their performance.”