Look for the 39th Annual Edition on October 27, 2024.
We need volunteers to make this thing happen. Contact us to see what you can do.
The patriotic name derived from our original concept of holding the race the last evening you could run in daylight each year (if you work a 9-5 job). That was the Saturday evening before the Time Change. Since the government has chosen
to change the week of that change, by popular demand we prefer the weather and conditions of the
last Saturday in October, henceforth our race will be on that day, except on Halloween when it will be a week earlier.
Race time is now at 4 p.m., registration starts around 3. This is a necessary change so everybody will be back to the finish
and awards should be given out before the park workers go home for the evening.
Entry fee: $25 $5 penalty for early registration.
An explanation about the fees: No this isn't a typo. This is a demonstration to other race directors that events can be put on in an athlete-friendly fashion, with minimal organization. We charge minimal fees that cover the cost of renting the park, the necessary sanction/insurance and awards. We've cut out the items that unnecessarily raise the costs of our events, most notably the on-line computerized pre-registration (though that is due to change, stay tuned). In the mind of this long-time runner, a race is not a commercial marketing opportunity. It is a place where runners get together do have fun participating in what we like to do. While this is a smaller race, many of these techniques can be adopted to handle races with thousands of participants (all it takes is more people on the organizational side--things that come with putting on a bigger race).
This is a low key race that specializes in doing things different. Age divisions
are divided into six year increments.
The fact that it is an evening, cross country race is a rarity.
The course
is impossible to run. Only mountain goats and sherpa guides will find this reasonable.
The first mile is particularly brutal, going up a city street that my car has
trouble on. Most competitors are wasted before they can consider racing. That
is why the course
records are so slow for this distance. Check out the Top
Ten list.
You've got to be CRAZY to want to do this thing. An average of about 60 participants
have entered this each year. Most come back year after year, some have never
been heard from again. A missing persons file will appear at this web site after
the race (along with, eventually, the results).
One very special feature this race has is it's commemorative T-Shirts,
available to be sold to race survivors for a mere $30. With a deal like that,
no wonder nobody has ever ordered one.
Twilight's
Last Gleaming Cross Country Challenge