It was a perfect running day with sunshine and temps in the low 60's on Sunday morning, 9/29/13 for the 31st Annual Capital Pursuit. We had over 600 runners register to toe the line at 8:00am. Thanks to the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) for making our 10-Mile and 5k the State Championship events again this year.
The overall winner of the 10-mile race was Luke Demmel of Des Moines, finishing in 54:12. Our 10-mile female winner was Stephanie Mortenson of Windsor Heights, finishing in 1:05:09.
The 5k overall winner was Patrick Riley of Des Moines with a time of 17:00. The overall 5k female finisher was Bridget Conlon of Des Moines with a time of 19:47.
Many thanks to the City of Des Moines and the DM Police Department for keeping our runners safe and traffic moving. We were not able to reserve Nollen Plaza this year so we applaud ING Insurance for giving us their parking lot as our Home Base.
We had 36 student athletes and adult mentors from See-Us Run Des Moines run our races this year. Capital Pursuit sponsors SRDM by inviting the students and mentors to race free of charge. SRDM is a wonderful program of Iowa Kidstrong, Inc. See-Us Run Des Moines helps teens who face adversity in their lives learn that they are capable, resourceful, and resilient to respond to Life's challenges by providing them the opportunity to experience first hand the benefits of goal setting, character development, adult mentoring, and improved health through committing to training for and completing the Des Moines Marathon.
We had scads of Pursuit Junior runners this year. They showed the applauding crowd just how CRAZY FAST Des Moines's next generation of Pursuit winners will be.
Here are some statistics. As of Thursday at Midnight there were 288 Females registered, 267 Males. LADIES RULE! Average Age was 39. The youngest was 2 and the youngest at heart was 74. We only had a few short weeks to organize this year's race. Due to less promotion, we only had 5 from out of state this year.
Thank you to our Board of Directors who worked diligently to insure that the curtain would not go down on the 31st Annual Capital Pursuit Races. Thank you to our many wonderful sponsors who without, we would not be able to continue to put on this race. These businesses, organizations and individuals provide critical resources to support our races.
Living History Farms Race Scheels Fitness Sports Crystal Clear Water Gatorade Lint Van Lines Accelerated Rehab O'Malley's Taco Johns Brueggers Bagels Capital City Fruit Roberts Dairy Prairie Life Fitness America's Best Apparel, Inc. DMU Osteopathic Finish Line Treatment The Suites of 800 Locust ING Insurance Dahls Grocery
As anyone involved in race directing knows, the weather and runners are only part of the formula to a successful event. More than 200 people volunteer each year to help with Capital Pursuit. They pour water, serve as course marshals, help with registration, distribute food, provide massages, and a host of other tasks that go on seamlessly behind the scenes. Thank you to all our volunteers. Thank you for getting up early Sunday morning to volunteer with set-up, late registration, and wherever needed.
A big thank you to Prairie Life Fitness for allowing us space for packet-pickup on Friday night. Thanks to Gail Bormann and Paul Rearick along with fellow Board members.
Thanks to Terry Lint of Lint Van Lines for being an wonderful sponsor, providing the truck that carries all the water and supplies for our races. Many thanks to former Board member, Steve Halstead and the Lint Van Lines volunteers who did all the heavy lifting and provided invaluable assistance in moving materials and supplies to set-up and tear down our race courses.
Thanks again this year to Larry Jablonski for providing and setting up the finish line scaffolding.
Thanks to Cal Murdoch for his 31 year's worth of timing this event and providing race history. We are so pleased to announce that Cal recently re-joined our Board of Directors.
Thank you to the The Suites of 800 Locust for helping us out with lots of last minute details as well as providing storage space for us.
Thanks to Scheels and Fitness Sports for providing awards. Also special thanks to Wade Wearmouth of WCM Metals for providing the medal hanger awards that went to our top men & women winners.
A huge thank you to our Water Stop support teams:
Kate Altmairer & friends for - Water Stop #1
Dan Hostager & the Drake Men's Cross Country Team - Water Stop #2
Todd Shemper of Work Systems Rehab and his friends of Central Presbyterian Church - Water Stop #3
Chris Burch and friends of IMT Des Moines Marathon - Water Stop #4
Thank you also for all you cell phone photo snappers who will share your photos with us on Facebook. Many thanks to our professional photographers who have already provided links to some fabulous photos.
We are so fortunate to live in such a supportive running community. Great job everyone!