At the fifth annual Loven Family Run 10K, Cornville 42-year-old Brenda Williams was the fastest local in a field of 250 runners — a field expected to double Saturday, April 16, for the eighth annual Brian Mickelsen Memorial Run and Walk.
Finishing in 39:42, Williams, the 10K’s fastest 40- to 49-year-old April 2, was one of just two runners to finish the race at the Blazin’ M Ranch in under 40 minutes.
The other was the winner, Sedona 30-year-old Tanaya Gallagher.
“She beats me every time,” laughed Williams, who finished 2:54 behind Gallagher after topping all women at last year’s 10K, in 37:31. “Last year, same course, she would’ve only beaten me by 45 seconds instead of three minutes.
“It’s been a rough winter with flus [and] colds … [I’m] just getting back into shape again.”
But with Williams as well as last year’s half-marathon winner, 24-year-old Tim Freriks, not participating in any of the four Brian Mickelsen races, which begin with the full marathon at 6 a.m. April 16, the field is wide open.
“We have really good numbers for the half, which has been our most popular event, so a lot more people participate in it,” said Ryan Bigelow, race coordinator and programs supervisor for the Cottonwood Parks and Recreation department. “We have a really beautiful course. It incorporates a mixture of trail and paved roads and showcases a lot of the best the Verde Valley has to offer.”
Main and 10th streets around Riverfront Park will not be open to vehicular traffic April 16, during the full or the half-marathon, which starts at 7:30 a.m.
Until all full- and half-marathon runners get to Tuzigoot Road, Broadway will be closed from there to Old Town as well, Bigelow said.
“The Loven Run goes from [points] A to B,” added Jack Teel, Cottonwood recreation coordinator of sports and special events. “We’re a loop.”
Although runners can still register for the two-mile, 10K, half- and full marathons at the Riverfront Park start and finish line beginning at 5:15 a.m. April 16, the deadline for pre-registration is Wednesday, April 13.
Total entries are on pace with last year’s 550 runners, if not quite at the record level of 630 participants in 2014, Bigelow confirmed.
“Right now, we’re right on track from where we were last year,” Teel added. “We had runners from, I believe, 30 states last year.”
As of Friday, April 8, runners from as far away as Massachusetts, along with 11 other states outside Arizona, have registered. Interested participants must pre-register for the race at the Cottonwood Parks and Recreation department or on its website.
“Our hope is that these running events locally are increasing the amount of runners we have,” Bigelow said, “so that we can benefit from an increased number of racers this year.”
Freriks, still recovering from a 50-mile run last weekend in California, won last year’s half-marathon in 1:11.14 — a tough time to beat, even for Clarkdale 31-year-old Trista MacVittie, who plans to run the 10K for the sixth year April 16.
“I’m hoping to finish in under an hour,” said MacVittie, of Clarkdale, who finished the Loven 5K Run and Walk in 29:46 pushing her son in a stroller. “I’m not as fast as I used to be. The heavier he gets, the harder he is to push.”
For top male and female finishers from the Loven Family 10K and 5K runs, please see the Wednesday,
