It will be a delayed takeoff for this year’s Starlight Runway Run in Yarmouth, thanks to Dorian.
The annual event’s third edition was to have taken place Saturday, Sept. 7, but the storm resulted in the race being postponed. It has been re-scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5.
“It was quite disappointing and a little stressful as we watched the storm, hoping that it might veer off,” said Candice Phibbs, the Starlight Runway Run’s race director, “but we came up with a contingency plan and made sure that all our partners were on board with it.”
This year’s race had been sold out, with 250 people slated to take part. Because of the postponement, some spots opened up.
“We had some participants not able to make the new date, so those participants opted to be re-scheduled for our 2020 event,” Phibbs said.
There are two distance options: 3K and 5K.
Introduced in 2017, the Starlight Runway Run – an evening event – is a different sort of race, given that it’s held on an airport runway, hence the name.
Organizers fully embrace the airport theme, Phibbs said.
“We call it a flight rather than a run in most of our advertising, that you’re boarding your flight at the Yarmouth International Airport,” she said. “Your race kit pickup is your flight check-in, so you’re checking in with the flight attendants at the registration desk. We’ve got folks on the runway dressed up like pilots.”
The runners create “a moving display of light” as they make their way down the runway, she said.
Organizers had arranged with the local flight club to have an airplane on the runway at the time of the run on Sept. 7. When interviewed for this story, Phibbs said they were looking to confirm whether this can be done for Oct. 5.
Organizers were pleased to see their numbers come back up this year. After a full field of 250 people in 2017, participation fell last year to 170 and organizers aren’t sure why, Phibbs said.
For this year’s event – at least while it was still on for the original early-September date – they had a wait list, she said.
