The 36th annual 300 Oaks Road Race has something for everyone, says Beth Stevens, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event each year.
“We hope everyone will come out and have fun at this year’s event,” said Stevens. “It’s always a great time, and you can get healthy at the same time. It’s so much fun to run or walk with hundreds of other people. There’s something very motivational about that.”
This year’s event will be held Saturday morning and will feature a 10K run, a 5K run, a 5K walk and, new this year, a 1-mile “Color Me Greenwood” fun run.
The fun run, which travels down Grand Boulevard, is a color run. Colored powder will be thrown at race participants at different points throughout the race route.
“Everyone who participates will receive a white T-shirt, and they should wear that for the color run, and their shirts will be all nice and then colorful at the finish,” said Stevens. “There will also be a big color explosion at the very beginning of the run before it gets started. We just thought this would be a fun way to try something new, and everyone seems to be very excited about it.”
The longtime road race is appealing to locals as well as out-of-town visitors because participants travel on some of the most scenic and shaded streets in Greenwood.
“This is definitely a mixed event with a good representation of both locals and out-of-towners,” Stevens said. “It’s probably about 50-50.”
The race is one of the oldest in the state and each year brings out 500-plus runners and walkers.
“We’ve definitely got a historical tradition,” said Stevens. “It’s become a challenge to stay relevant with everyone doing races now, but we’ve hung in there. We get many repeat runners and walkers, because they know that our event is top-notch.”
More than 300 participants were registered for the event as of Friday afternoon, and Stevens said many more are expected to sign up this week.
“This time of year, it’s always a challenge with college football, but our race is early, and football fans can participate and still have time to get to their home games that weekend,” said Stevens.
Another appealing aspect of the road race is getting to participate at the event as a team.
Teams, consisting of five or more members, can sign up for the 10K run, 5K run or the 5K walk. Some of the teams signed up this year are Staplcotn with 35 participants, John-Richard with 31, Westminster Presbyterian Church with 27 and Beacon Harbor with 13.
After the races, awards will be given to the overall male and female winners of the 10K run, 5K run, 5K walk and fun run. The first-, second- and third-place winners in five-year age increments of each race will also receive trophies. The largest teams and the fastest teams in each race category will also receive awards. The masters and grand-masters winners will also receive awards.
This year, artist CJ Coleman is designing the awards.
“She has made some beautiful pottery pieces for the top overall prizes, and we have some cool medals for the age division winners,” said Stevens.
The 1-mile winners will receive medals featuring the “Color Me Greenwood” logo.
The event will be capped with a party held on Front Street near the Yazoo River and will feature live entertainment by Mary Mac Bryant and Jason Ballard, food and cold beverages. Race winners will also be honored during the party.
Online registration will close at midnight on Thursday. Teams should also be registered by Thursday.
Packet pickup will be from 4-7 p.m. on Friday at the Hampton Inn.
“Everyone needs to be sure to come get their race goody bag, shirt and race number during that time,” said Stevens.
Registration and packet pickup will also be held from 6:30-7:45 a.m. Saturday in front of Floyd Melton’s house, located at the corner of Grand Boulevard and West President Avenue.
Maps of the race routes are available at www.300oaks.com.
For more information, call the chamber at 453-4152.
•Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
