It’s time for the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival, and as it has for 18 years, the Fiddler 5K and One-Mile Fun Run will be held on Saturday before the hoedown begins.
Event organizers say the race is open to everyone, and is held each year for a very worthy cause. All proceeds from the event will be used in building a new Habitat for Humanity home in DeKalb County. Money raised from the race will go toward building materials for the project.
The race will start at 7 a.m. on July 2, rain or shine, and the 3.1-mile course will begin and end on Church Street in Downtown Smithville. The start line will be in front of the First Baptist Life Enrichment Center on Church Street. The finish line will be in front of Love-Cantrell Funeral Home.
Race Director Tecia Puckett Pryor encourages everyone to preregister. There is a link to online registration at www.fiddler5k.com. It will take you to OneStopRace, where you can register online until midnight on June 29 (today).
Race check-in is on Saturday morning, and competitors may walk up and register before the race starts as well. Race-day registration will be at 6 a.m. in the Love-Cantrell Funeral Home parking lot.
Those who pre-register may pick up their packets on Friday night between the hours of 5-7 p.m. or Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. at the starting line. According to Pryor, picking up their packets on Friday can save runners some time, and allow them sleep a little longer on Saturday morning.
The cost of race-day registration is $30 for ages 19-up, and $25 for ages 18 and under. Pre-registration is $25 for adults age 19-up, and $20 for 18 and under.
Pryor said that the 3.1 mile race course will not be affected by either the water main construction on Main Street or the bridge construction Holmes Creek Road. The 5K participants will go down Town Hill, by the golf course, up Riley Avenue by DeKalb Community Hospital, and back up Main Street toward downtown.
The race is expected to draw 300-400 runners from all over the country.
As in past years, the race is monitored electronically, so runners will be able to see their times as soon as they finish. Runners will have a chip on their bib, and when they cross the finish line it will instantly tell them how fast they ran the race. There will be a gun start, meaning that the start is not chip timed. All the runners will start at the same time, but the finish is chip timed.
An overall male award and a female award will be given for the fastest runners. A Masters Award will be presented to the fastest male and female over age 40. The top three runners in the nine-and-younger category will receive awards, and ribbons will be presented in the same way in five-year increments.
One-Mile Fun Run winners ages twelve and younger will receive awards, with overall awards for male and female and the top three.
Pryor would also like to thank the race tee shirt sponsors. Headline sponsors are DeKalb Dental Center and Dr. Mitchell Tatum, Wilson Bank & Trust, First Bank, Janney and Associates, Stonehaus Winery, CPA Glenda Davis, Tenneco, Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital, and Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Online preregistration is available at http://www.onestoprace.com/search/event.aspx?id=32508. For more information, or copies of paper registrations call the office of Tecia Puckett Pryor at 615-597-7370, stop by her office at 312 West Broad Street, Smithville, or visit www.fiddler5k.com.
Run, walk, or just stop by and be a spectator. The Fiddler 5K and 1-mile Fun Run will be fun for all ages, and you’ll help give a family a home.
