If you don’t want to miss one single patriotic, firework-booming moment of Independence Day, the annual fun run is the place to kick off your holiday. This festive 5K in Historic Park City will feature music, food and, yes, those coveted race T-shirts.
Development Director for Park City Ski and Snowboard Jana Dalton said it’s all for a great cause.
“It's a fun run that benefits Park City Ski and Snowboard," said Dalton. "We are the largest winter sports club in the country with over 1,100 athletes, 800 families and nine sports disciplines under our umbrella, including youth development.”
The fun run is for kids and adults of all ages with a number of different categories and medals for the top three finishers in each category. The top three overall finishers will receive footwear from race sponsor Solomon. And they aren’t the only winners.
"We will also have Stretch Lab Park City setting up a tent in the parking lot to help the runners stretch either before or after the run," Dalton said. "And then Kodiak Cakes is coming and doing pancakes after the run for our runners.”
Race registration is $30 for kids 11 and under and $50 for adults. You can find registration links at colesport or runnercard.
And if you’re a procrastinator, for the first time, registration will close on July 3 at 5 p.m. and there will be no same-day registrations. There will also be a cap of 1,000 participants this year.
The Fun Run dates back to the early 1980s. Cole Sport co-owner Adam Cole said his dad Gary was one of the founders. He and co-founder Phil Thompson from Industrial Supply will be honored prior to the race.
How long has Cole been participating?
"It has just been a funny tradition with our family," Cole said. "We're up at 5 a.m. every Fourth of July to get this thing kicked off. And yeah, I've probably run it a dozen times out of the 40 years. And yeah, it was 1984. I was 2 years old, so I don't remember it.”
And in an active mountain community like Park City, it’s never too early to start racing.
