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Last Updated: 24 July 2016 24 July 2016

July 17, 2016
State College, PA

 

Son and father: Larry (youngster) and George Etzweiller (age 96!) with just over a mile to go in their 10K. (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Capone.)

Photos near the starts of the 5K, 10K, and 10 Mile races, courtesy of John Balogh.

Photos from the all-race finish courtesy of John Balogh.

Photos of the awards courtesy of John Balogh.

Several words are evoked by the phrase “Arts Festival Races:”  tradition, families, campus, hot, steamy…. Well, it was fairly hot and fairly humid, although not oppressively so. When we set out at 4 a.m. to put out course signs, it was pleasantly cool. By the start of the races, between 8:15 and 8:30, the temperature was on its way to a daytime high of 85 degrees. But runners persevered, and bottles of water were waiting at the finish, courtesy of Roaring Spring Waters.

There were 481 registrants for the races including just over 100 for the 10 miler. When the race began 41 years ago, that was the only choice. Then it became a 10K race, then the 5K was added, and three years ago the 10 miler returned.

Race results can be found elsewhere on the race webpage, as well as pictures. Those were taken by John Balogh at the starts and finish. His son Matt won his age category in the 10 miler and his daughter Anne, who will be married in a couple of weeks, won her age category in the 5K. Also running were a lot of the extended Crowe clan. The race is named for Sue Crowe, a fixture in State College running for many years, who won the womens 10 miler multiple times.  Her sons John and Paul ran the 5K, her son Joseph and daughter Chris Crowe Hunsberger the 10K, and her husband Bob preserved tradition in the 10 miler. Also running were Sue’s sister and brother, Karen Turcick and Fred Hollick, and their families, Chris’s husband, and Chris’s son in the kids races.

The picture at the top of the page shows Larry and George Etzwiler coming off the IST Bridge in the 10K race. George wears the retro Nittany Valley Track Club shirt. (Teresa Timmerman and Bob Crowe, behind them, are finishing the 10 miler.) George, at 96, every year wins his age category in the Mount Washington hill climb, and every year runs an Arts Fest race. He also captains the Old Men of the Mountain team at the Tussey Mountainback 50 miler. One of us is now old enough to have joined George’s team.

Any race can’t be successful without volunteers. Thanks to Carl and Nancy Miller, Mike Casper, Dean Capone, Tara Murray, and John Iceland for race stuffing, John, Marty Mazur and Meira Minard for pre-race registration, and Nancy, Tom Cali, Jo Ohm, and Jeff Johnson for race-day registration. Marvin Hall was everywhere on race day, organizing and arranging and leading the 10 milers on a bike. Judd Michael moved the bottled water to the finish line and kept the iced containers full. Sarah Clements picked up the food. Out on the course: Mark Fedkin and a group from Nittany Track and Field at the Shortlidge Plaza water stop, Miriam Powell and a group of Penn State women basketball players at the IST water stop (they also helped out at the kids races back at Medlar Field), and Julie Grubb at the Radio Park water stop.  Kim Gasper and son Jonathan directed runners at the critical 10mile/10K split.  Jeff and Judd were at corners for the beginning BJC loops of the 10 milers. Cheryl Capone and son Brian were at the corner of Burrowes and Pollock, where runners are coming from east and north and west and all, thanks to their direction, end up heading east.

Thanks to the race sponsors. The principal sponsor is Penn State Health. Also: BB&T Bank, Tom Cali and Ellen Kline/ReMax Centre Realty, Tapia Technology Consulting, and  Rapid Transit Sports. Supporting sponsors are Roaring Spring Water, State College Spikes, and Centre County Convention and Visitors Bureau. And thanks to the folks at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts: Rick Bryant, Jennifer Shuey, and Carol Baney.

Dave Eggler and Jake Clements, Race Directors