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2006 St. Patrick's
Parade
Corktown Races 4 mile |
I have heard that this
race in the past has often been very cold, but today it was a spring
day, about 60 degrees at race time, which for late risers was a
comfortable half past noon. The races, a 4 mile run and a
1.5 mile walk, had over 1400 runners/walkers. I overheard a volunteer at
the finish line refreshment table they were supposed to prepare for 700
people, but they ended up having a good deal more. Probably because of
the beautiful weather for this time of year.
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A view of the first mile of the course...
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The
4 Mile Course |
I have run this race once before and the course changed this
year. This course was better than the old one, but If you don't
like running long stretches on one road, this may not become a favorite
course. The monotony or running one long stretch was broken up by the
change of scenery as you enter the canyons of concrete, glass and steel.
Plus the crowd for the parade breaks up the monotony as well. The race
course started outside of Tiger Stadium, on Michigan Avenue which was
completely blocked off for the race and the parade that followed. Seven
lanes across so no worries about being behind people slower than you and
fighting the crowd or being run over by people faster than you from
behind.
You run down Michigan Avenue toward downtown Detroit. Take a
turn around
Campus Martius Park, where a few people were still skating on the
skating rink. One guy said as we were running by that today was
the last day it was open. After the loop around the park you
head north up Woodward Avenue. Once you make it to the park you
reach the mostly newly paved asphalt roads. It had rained during
the night and early morning so the as the roads heated up you could
smell that smell of wet asphalt that every runner/walker has experienced
before.
Soon after turning up Woodward you hit the first water
station that also serves as the last water station on the way back.
Running up Woodward the course is shaded for awhile by tall office
buildings with retail store fronts. Not all of them are in use.
among some of them. |
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A view of the last mile of the course... |
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You run down Michigan Avenue toward downtown Detroit. Take a
turn around
Campus Martius Park, where a few people were still skating on the
skating rink. One guy said as we were running by that today was
the last day it was open. After the loop around the park you
head north up Woodward Avenue. Once you make it to the park you
reach the mostly newly paved asphalt roads. It had rained during
the night and early morning so the as the roads heated up you could
smell that smell of wet asphalt that every runner/walker has experienced
before.
Soon after turning up Woodward you hit the first water
station that also serves as the last water station on the way back.
Running up Woodward the course is shaded for awhile by tall office
buildings with retail store fronts. Not all of them are in use.
among some of them.
After a few blocks of running up Woodward you take a jog to
the right on Witherell Street and run past Western side of Comerica
Park, then new Tiger Stadium. The architecture is interesting to
look at, as you run past the western exterior or the new park.
Plenty of ferocious tigers line the facade of the new park hiding
baseball lights in the mouths of snarling tigers that hang on the facade
of the park.
Take a left at Montcalm and head back a block to Woodward and
then you take another left onto Woodward and start retracing the route
that brought you this far, running past the Fox Theater as you turn onto
Woodward. A few blocks back down Woodward and you take a right
back on Michigan Avenue and start back toward Tiger Stadium which you
can easily see in the distance.
At this point you are in the
middle of the race and the usual it looks closer than it is thoughts
start to kick in. But it is good to know you have a good half mile
past Tiger Stadium as the race this year ends in the park in front of
the old Train Station. There is a lonely stretch as far as crowds
go as you start back up Michigan Avenue and it was hot in the sun during
this part of the race even though I was just in shorts and T-shirt.
Things got better as I approached Tiger Stadium as the crowd was for the
parade in this area was solid and and some of the people were cheering
people on, but then some of them were also busy drinking beer and
talking with friends.
Once past Tiger Stadium you have to make it two more
major streets, Rosa Parks Blvd and then to Vernor where you turn left
and can finally see the finish line about a 100 yards ahead. From
there it was easy to finish and go into the finishing shoots, One for
the 4 milers and one for the 1.5 mile run/walkers.
This race was not
chipped timed so it used the tear off the bottom of the bib file through
a line. Of course you are supposed to stay in line, but since it
was a good sized race the inevitable press of people cause the single
line to become 3 or 4 lines and everyone was out of order at the busiest
part of the race.
This is the one major advantage to chip
timing even if it is just for the final mat. I am sure it would be
nearly impossible to give accurate times as the major bulk of runners
came in this scenario and probably part of the reason the results for
this race were only for the top place finishers in their categories.
Moral of the story: if you care about your time, as you cross the finish
line make sure you remember it yourself. It won't be available
online like chip timed races, and if it was and you are a middle or back
of the pack runner, it will probably not very accurate..
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Pre-Race Registration crowd...
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Parking |
Parking was no problem, because if you came for the race there were
plenty of spots and parking lots (I think most of them were free, street
parking was) along Michigan Avenue near the start in front of Tiger
Stadium. I parked on the street and it was easy to get to and from
the car for the usual trips to put away the extra warm up clothes and
the race T-shirt
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Pre-Race |
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The finish is about a 1/2 mile up the street...
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I did not pre-register for this race. The race started at 12:30
and I was there about 10:45 and registered in a few minutes with no
lines. Registration was on the sidewalk just outside the Tiger
Stadium. Online and mail-in registration were both available.
Everyone pre-registered were on sheets on the wall outside Tiger Stadium.
For a race this size, the port-a-johns seemed almost
non-existent. I saw only two near the start of the race outside
the Stadium. I suppose you could go into some of the bars
nearby. Some people were using the Gas Station/Subway across the
street. But this might not be a good race to super hydrate before.
Like always if you use them early enough the lines were not bad for the porta-john.
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Race Results |
Race Results are at
runmichigan.com. The results are only for the first
3 in each age
group.
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T-Shirt
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Post-Race |
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At this race, the line out of the
chutes turned right into the line for the post race refreshments.
There was Irish music and some great volunteers tossing bananas and
apples to those who wanted to catch them, and they had beer for the
adults, and Pepsi and water for those who did not want the beer.
Don't usually drink beer but it tasted great after running four miles!
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| Extras |
| After the race you could head
back a few blocks to find a spot near Tiger Stadium and wait
for the St. Patrick's Day parade. |
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Course Map |
| Click on the address
listed below. It will bring up a map of the course.
Note: The address of the map is roughly centered on the map so you can
see the whole course. |
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Map
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Other Races
1/4 Miles Kids Run at
Noon
1.5 Mile Walk
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Race
Website
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Race Website:
St. Patrick's Parade Corktown Races Hosted by: The
Downtown
Runners/Walkers of Detroit and the
Motor City
Striders
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