Crazy 8s is going back to school. The Indian Path Medical Center &
SunTrust Bank Crazy 8s 8K Run is launching a new event, the Foot Rx
Invitational High School Mile on Friday evening, July 11th, at 6:15 PM.
The Invitational High School Mile and the Lively State Farm Crazy Mile
will be run in downtown Kingsport just prior to the Fun Fest Parade.
"We're pretty excited about this one," said Hank Brown, Crazy 8s
Co-Director. "When we met with the Reebok folks earlier this year and
brainstormed on some ideas for the race, this was one of the ideas they
came up with."
The Crazy Mile was created several years ago as an elite mile on the
track, run during the Fun Fest Track Meet several days after Crazy 8s.
When the track meet shut down in 2006, Crazy Mile founder and organizer
Nick Whited approached Crazy 8s and suggested the Crazy Mile fall under
the Crazy 8s umbrella. The mile was moved to Crazy 8s eve, blasting off
just prior to the Fun Fest Parade along the parade route. As a
complement to the elite mile, an open mile was added to allow more
people to participate.
According to Brown, the Foot Rx Invitational High School Mile is
essentially replacing the elite mile. "We liked the elite mile, but the
past couple of years, it kind of became a second race for the elites
coming in to run the 8k. We felt like it made more sense to create an
elite mile for high school kids and let them show their stuff."
As the name suggests, this is an invitation only event for high school
runners, which includes those who have just graduated from high school.
The qualifying standard for the boys is 4:39, and for the girls 5:39.
The field is limited to 8-10 boys and 8-10 girls. All participants will
receive a backpack from Reebok with the winners receiving Reebok
training shoes and other Reebok gear.
"We realize this is the first year, so we know we're not going to get
all the best kids from this area," Brown added. "We're relaxing the
standards a little this year, but hope to tighten it up over time.
We're getting a pretty good response already so we hope to put on a good
show for the spectators."
"We're committed to making this one of the top high school running
events in the country," said Steve Pastorek from Foot Rx Running in
Johnson City. "Maybe the kids who run this year will look back, and
say, hey, I ran that race the very first year."
Interested high school runners or coaches should contact Hank Brown at
hank@crazy8s.org or 423-963-1046. For more information on the Crazy 8s
Road Race, go to www.crazy8s.org