Mother Road Marathon will return despite steep losses January 9, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Sports.add a comment
The tri-state Mother Road Marathon is planning for 2012 in spite of losing nearly $31,000 in the previous year’s event, reported the Joplin (Mo.) Globe.
The 26.2-mile footrace starts in Commerce, Okla., winds on Route 66 through Kansas, and ends in the western edge of Joplin. The 2012 race is set for Oct. 14.
The newspaper reported:
Income, mostly from entry fees, amounted to $32,719, while expenses totaled $63,678, according to Patrick Tuttle, director of the tourism bureau. [...]
The initial run attracted about 1,500 participants. Tuttle said last year’s event drew 641 runners: 138 for the full marathon, 292 for the half-marathon and 211 for the 5K run.
Tuttle attributed the decrease in runners last year largely to the impact of the May 22 tornado.
“The perception of some runners was the race wasn’t going to happen, and that was hard to overcome once implanted,” he said. There was a misperception that lodging and restaurants would not be available to the runners, and that volunteers would be focused on tornado recovery and would not be available to put on the event, he said.
To call it a “misperception” is stretching the truth. In the weeks after the tornado, it was well-documented that many motels within 150-mile radius of Joplin were booked full with aid workers, the newly homeless, and construction crews. Volunteers helped throughout the summer. The problem with the lack of lodging, restaurants, and volunteers was real. It’s impossible to not experience such problems when a tornado destroys one-third of a city.
Organizers also attributed part of the dropoff in the marathon to a dispute with the marathon’s initial organizer, Reinke Sports Group of Winter Park, Fla. The city of Joplin had paid Reinke a $30,000 settlement to sever the relationship. Also, the race’s founder retired.
I’m glad that the marathon’s organizers are giving it another try. Such events often break even, at best. But the steep losses that occurred in 2011 almost certainly was an aberration.
Tulsa councilor will form task force about Route 66 January 8, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Businesses, Sports, Towns.1 comment so far
New Tulsa city councilor Blake Ewing is creating a task force to better embrace business and tourism opportunities along Route 66 in town, the Tulsa World reported today.
“There’s Route 66 travel maps that bypass Tulsa,” he said with frustration. “Motorists hop on Interstate 44 at Catoosa to cut through the city and then reconnect with Route 66 from there.”
Many leaders have championed Arkansas River development in recent years, with Route 66 (tracking along on 11th Street) falling by the wayside, Ewing said.
“I’m not trying to usurp river momentum,” he said. “I’m excited about that, too. But to me, this is lower-hanging fruit. It’s here and it’s underutilized. We don’t have to put water in it to be successful.”
Some nuggets from the story:
- The task force would include businesses along Tulsa’s Route 66 and city officials.
- Ideas include tax-increment financing to create new development along the Mother Road.
- Ewing would like federal Brownfield grants to clean up dilapidated properties.
- He wants a fund that would buy neglected properties and turn them into meeting sites for car clubs.
- Ewing also wants a grant program that would encourage Route 66 businesses to upgrade their signs to neon, thus providing more of a Mother Road atmosphere.
“Route 66: The Mother Road” author and Tulsa resident Michael Wallis made an important point in the story:
The lure of traveling Route 66 by car is powerful to domestic and foreign tourists and continues to grow, he said.
“A lot of people falsely think it’s about pure nostalgia,” he said.
“But it’s much more than poodle skirts, cheeseburgers, James Dean and ’57 Chevys. Those are just a small slice of the pie.
The story also mentions the extensive public-works projects along Route 66 that have been funded by the Vision 2025 sales tax.
The story neglects to mention the Admiral Place alignment of Route 66, which also went through much of downtown from 1926 to 1932. The Route 66 resources on that alignment aren’t as rich as the better-known 11th Street path. But the Admiral Place portion does contain the historic Circle Cinema, Hank’s Hamburgers, Ann’s Bakery, the sprawling and often-bizarre Great American Flea Market, and a few other choice attractions. It shouldn’t be ignored.
Also, as a Tulsa resident, I’m extremely impressed with Ewing’s businesses and the dignified way he conducted himself during his city council campaign. He’s an energetic Tulsa booster. The ideas he’s presented about Route 66 are sound, and I’m thrilled he’s on the City Council.
Santa Rosa newspaper makes a sequel November 27, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Publications, Sports.add a comment
Last year about this time, the Guadalupe County Communicator newspaper, based in Santa Rosa, N.M., printed a special edition in case its local high-school football won the state championship.
To top it off, the newspaper timed it so the congratulatory edition would actually be distributed at the game the minute the state title was won. The publisher took a gamble, risking $700 in printing expenses that Santa Rosa would win. If the team lost, the special edition would be quietly tossed into a Dumpster.
On Saturday, Santa Rosa — and the Communicator — did it again. The Lions defeated previously unbeaten Eunice 21-14, with the winning touchdown scored with less than a minute remaining. And a congratulatory edition was distributed immediately after the game.
You can see the front page of the special edition in this Facebook post.
And, at 3:35 in this video recap of the game, you can see a Santa Rosa player showing off that special edition:
The Communicator, as you may recall, is owned by M.E. Sprengelmeyer, who lost his job as a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News when the newspaper went belly-up in early 2009. He argued that newspapers could still be financially viable and took a gamble on a struggling weekly newspaper in Santa Rosa.
More than two years later, it appears he’s succeeding. The Communicator recently took home about two dozen awards at the state’s newspaper-excellence contest. His advertising percentages in the newspaper continue to hover at a healthy 50 percent level. And, with such stunts as Saturday’s, he’s adding excitement to the community.
Keeping it cool at the Route 66 Marathon November 20, 2011
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Well, that didn’t take long. The Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa was held Sunday morning, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma had a video from it posted before evening:
Weather conditions at the marathon definitely were better for runners than spectators. Temperatures barely climbed into the 40s all day, with a brisk north wind.
According to results, Andy Derks of St. Louis won the 26.2-mile race for the second year in a row, this time in 2 hours, 28 minutes, 33 seconds.
Maggie Nelson of Tulsa was the top women’s finisher in 2:57:04. That was a course record for female competitors. Believe it or not, it was her first marathon, according to the Tulsa World.
The main marathon course included short stretches of Route 66 alignments on 11th Street, Second Street, and Southwest Boulevard.
The 2012 Route 66 Marathon will be Nov. 18.
Chandler Baseball Camp named to National Register of Historic Places October 21, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Preservation, Sports.add a comment
Chandler Baseball Camp in Chandler, Okla., renowned for decades for its baseball-only camps run by Bo and Tom Belcher, was listed to the National Register of Historic Places effective Oct. 12, according to an email today from the National Park Service.
The complex, at 2000 W. Park Road in Chandler less than a mile north of Route 66 west of town, held two-week camps amid a setting of bunkhouses, wooded areas, and baseball diamonds from 1958 to 1999. More than 18,000 boys from all 50 states and several countries attended the camps over the years.
Here’s a charming three-part video from the late 1980s by an Oklahoma City TV station about the camp:
Among the alums are Joe Simpson, who had a nine-year career in the major leagues and is a radio and television announcer for the Atlanta Braves; Sam Bradford, winner of the 2008 Heisman Trophy in college football and now a quarterback for the NFL’s St. Louis Rams; and Troy Aikman, a Hall-of-Fame quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.
In fact, Aikman’s signature still exists among the graffiti in one of the cabins, said Butch Schoenhals, CEO of Scientific Baseball LLC, who leases the property and hopes to reopen the camps someday. Schoenhals also possesses the camp report cards of Aikman and Bradford.
The Chandler Baseball Camp foundered with the deaths of Bo and Tom Belcher. It reopened for a few years from about 2004 to 2007, but closed again after an organizer died.
Schoenhals has a lease with an option to buy the 62-acre property. He said during a telephone interview Friday evening that he learned earlier in the day about the National Register designation.
“We put considerable effort into that,” he said. “It enhanced the value of the property. We’ve got a tremendous legacy with the Belcher family. It’s a story that needs to be told, and we’ve got a chance to do something special with it.” He said he received help from the Chandler City Council and other officials with the National Register designation.
Schoenhals said he knew fellow boys from his northwest Oklahoma hometown who attended the camps. “They came back better baseball players after those two weeks,” he said. Schoenhals never was able to attend one of those camps himself.
He said Chandler Baseball Camp was widely regarded as the finest such camp in the country. Not only did it produce better ballplayers, Schoenhals said, but it also produced future doctors, lawyers, and other professional people.
Many photos, including one home movie, from the camps can be found at the Facebook page of Chandler Baseball Camp Alumni.
The resiliency of the Eagles October 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Sports, Television, Towns.1 comment so far
If you have 20 minutes to spare, I urge you to watch a recent ESPN episode of “Outside the Lines.” It deals with Joplin High School’s football team in the weeks after the tornado that ravaged one-third of the town.
Here’s a trailer for the episode:
If you aren’t moved by the final two minutes of this show, you probably need to have your heart checked.
I suspect “Outside the Lines: Joplin” will earn an Emmy nomination or two in the coming months.
You can watch the full episode here.
Repeat winner at Mother Road Marathon October 10, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Sports.add a comment
Ryan Kramer of Des Moines, Iowa, won the overall title again Sunday at the second annual tri-state Mother Road Marathon, reported the Joplin Globe.
Kramer finished the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 53 minutes, 46 seconds. That was 51 seconds faster than runner-up Kevin Doyle of Kansas City, Mo. Gary Krugger of Tempe, Ariz., finished third.
The Mother Road Marathon started in Commerce, Okla., winded through 13 miles of Route 66 in Kansas, and finished on the west edge of Joplin, Mo.
The top women’s finisher was Karen Plucinski of Carl Junction, Mo., completing the 26.2 miles in 3:29:41.
The Globe reported that more than 600 runners competed in the race. That was way down from more than 1,700 that competed in the inaugural race. The lower turnout was attributed to concerns about the availability of lodging after the May 22 tornado that ravaged Joplin and a record heat wave during the summer.
Joplin also had a long dispute with the race’s first organizer, which may have confused or discouraged runners from entering.