NEWS
Changes to come to Crazylegs
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- Crazylegs draws record crowd (April 30, 2007)
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by Heather Quitos
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
When thousands of runners line up next month to participate in Madison's annual CrazyLegs Classic race, they will see two significant changes.
First, runners will have to make a detour on their running route by passing around the 200 and 300 blocks of State Street, marking the first time in the race's history where participants will not run down the street.
Second, instead of all participants starting at once, organizers have decided to use wave starts, where runners will line up in groups and each group will start within one or two minute intervals.
"There were the two changes this year — one we had no control over and one we did," said Terry Murawski, race organizer and executive director of the National W Club. "But we think it's safer [and] it will be more enjoyable."
George Twigg, spokesperson for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said the race has been a "fun," long-standing tradition of the city, which raises funds for the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department.
Twigg noted State Street construction is the cause for the change in the usual route, but said the National W Club did not raise any problems.
"We had to reroute because of the ongoing construction," he said. "But this is work on State Street that badly needs to be done."
Murawski said runners will instead run down Langdon Street and will still finish at Camp Randall.
But walkers are allowed to walk down State Street because the slower pace will allow the participants to navigate around construction more easily than the runners.
Also, Murawski noted the wave start creates a safer race because in the past, participants of all different abilities would line up at the beginning, creating potentially hazardous situations once the race began.
"This will keep our race course a little less congested," he said. "Hypothetically, you can run at a full stride the whole race."
Runners will be grouped by ability in groups of about 300, but will have no effect on a runner's race times, as computer chips on each runner's shoe will start timing once the participant crosses the start line, not when the race starts.
While the Apr. 29 race falls on the same date as the Mifflin Street Block Party, both Twigg and Murawski said the race should not be affected by the party or vice versa.
"Fortunately, Crazylegs is in the morning, and although Mifflin is kind of a daytime event, it doesn't pick up until afternoon," Twigg said.
