Friday, July 30, 2010

A Midsummer Night's Run 3K, 1998 - 2007

Before long it will be October and every Saturday in Tallahassee will come with a choice of three road races. But right now it’s deep summer and you have to travel out of town to race at all. There just aren’t many events scheduled at this time of year, possibly because of the heat. High school cross-country coaches are probably glad that there’s nothing to distract their runners from doing base training for their fall racing season. For the rest of us, though, up to three years ago we could look forward to A Midsummer Night’s 3K.


The race was directed by Shannon Sullivan from 1998 to 2007 and countered the heat by being short (three kilometers is a bit less than two miles) and in the evening. It was also unique in being held downtown and on a Friday. For the first two years the event started and finished near Kleman Plaza and was known as the Hemingway Days 3K; each runner received a race T-shirt featuring a picture of Papa Hemingway, who did not look like a typical marathoner. After a dispute with the sponsor the race moved uphill to Adams Street and the name became the Shakespearean “A Midsummer Night’s 3K.”


It was never a large event, but there would always be quality up front. In addition to local road racers, the Midsummer 3K fields would include distance runners from local high schools and Florida State. Irish Olympian Breeda Willis ran a couple of times, and her husband Lee Willis held the course record at 8:58. That wouldn’t be a world-beating time on the track, but the Midsummer 3K course wasn’t a track. Runners had to negotiate downtown Tallahassee’s hills while making a series of right-angle turns at street corners. “It wasn’t a race where you could get into a rhythm,” recalled race director Sullivan. “You had to be able to change gears in a hurry.”


Another problem with the course was that it was a loop around which runners did multiple laps, and the fastest competitors would inevitably lap the walkers and joggers, leading to congestion. In later years the race was always held the last day of FSU’s summer session and runners would have to compete with graduates and their families for space downtown. And Sullivan only grudgingly agreed to allow race results to be compiled. He was always more concerned with the post-race celebration. “I want people to remember having a good time,” he said.


Those who did remember having a good time missed the race when it quietly failed to show up on the racing calendar in 2008. After ten years of directing “A Midsummer Night’s 3K” Sullivan had decided to close the curtain on the race. Nothing has since come along to replace it. Sullivan himself is considering an October 3K race near his Sandal Beat store in the All-Saints neighborhood , but I’ve already remarked on the multitude of October races. It won’t be that one deep summer event that made everyone venture out into the heat for a run around the streets.


Champions of "A Midsummer Night's Run" 3K, 1998 - 2007
11 Jul 1998
Lee Willis (8:58)
Breeda Dennehy (11:18)
10 Jul 1999
?
?
4 Aug 2000
??
3 Aug 2001
Lee Willis (8:58)
Zita Magloire (11:59)
9 Aug 2002
Logan Wolcott (9:46)
Carrie Weyant (12:20)
8 Aug 2003
Caleb Carmichael (9:29)
Kara Newell (11:53)
6 Aug 2004
Caleb Carmichael (9:20)
Stephanie Liles (12:25)
5 Aug 2005
David Montez (10:30)
Kara Newell (10:58)
4 Aug 2006
Nathan Haskins (9:54)
Seeley Lovett (11:39)
3 Aug 2007
Christian Minor (9:12)
Julie Clark (12:31)


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Posted by Herb Wills at 12:05 AM
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