The 12th annual Loop the Lake was held Saturday, April 14, at the scenic new venue of Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines. Three hundred and twenty five runners registered for this flat, fast 10k on a mix of paved and crushed gravel trails circling Blue Heron Lake. It was a damp and cool morning, but perfect for running, as evidenced by the times for Men’s Open winner, Scottie Cross (35:52), and Women’s Open winner, Sara Hendrickson (42:22). All participants were treated to great post-race food and beverages and cool technical running shirts. Age group winners were rewarded with gift cards to Scheels and Fitness Sports – allowing them to buy more racing gear. Other place winners received Polar insulated water bottles for those upcoming sweltering summer runs.
We also invited eager young runners ages three to 10 to enjoy our Little Lakers Race, and race they did! Every Little Laker was given a winner’s medal for participating.
Many thanks to our sponsors, including Prairie Pella, Fitness Sports, Prairie Life Health and Fitness, Scheels and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. Capital Striders could not host great events, such as Loop the Lake, for the Des Moines running community without supportive business partners such as these.
And, we cannot forget to thank all those great volunteers who woke up early and gave freely of their time and energy to make it all possible. They provided course support and traffic control, manned the finish chute, put out all of that great food and water, handled the set up and clean up, and much, much more. It takes a lot of wonderful people to pull off a good race!
Thank you runners, sponsors and volunteers for making Loop the Lake 2012 another successful event!
Curtis Downs Race Director
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