News Release
Runners Travel to Anchorage to Complete Marathon in their 50th State
Anchorage, Alaska – June 5, 2009 – Ragged running shoes and bottles of pain reliever are among items these athletic visitors will bring to Alaska this summer.
While Alaska’s 50th anniversary of statehood heats up this summer, several dedicated marathon runners will gear up for their own 50th milestone: running a marathon in their 50th state. Members of the 50 States Marathon Club will complete a marathon in their 50th state this summer in Anchorage, Alaska.
Of course these visitors to Anchorage aren’t alone in their love of the sport. Running is big in Anchorage. The Anchorage Running Club (ARC) boasts more than 400 active members who train, run and race year- round. ARC hosts weekly training events, many social events, and a series of races each summer. In fact, there are so many race options for Anchorage runners that the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) publishes an annual running calendar.
With its surprisingly temperate maritime climate, Anchorage is an excellent choice for avid runners who want to incorporate a marathon into a vacation. Mild summer temperatures and low humidity are a great combination for race day. Anchorage is at sea level, requiring no adjustment to a higher, heart-pumping elevation. There is no hustling through traffic or breathing in car exhaust as most races take place on Anchorage’s award-winning trail system rather than the roads. Along the paved trails, runners will travel through wooded vistas that open up to breathtaking expanses of the steely gray waters of Cook Inlet or the rugged peaks of the Chugach Mountain Range. One of the most popular Anchorage races is the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon. The race was first organized in 1974. Last year, nearly 4,000 runners and walkers participated from 48 states and 12 countries. Run on the Saturday closest to Summer Solstice, this year’s race, including a marathon, half marathon, five-miler and youth cup, is scheduled for June 20, 2009.
“Visitors get the thrill of seeing moose along our wooded, urban running path. It’s barely noticeable that they are actually running through a city,” said Carolyn Muegge-Vaughan, sports market development manager for the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is more than a race – it is a trip of a lifetime for runners, who will leave not only with sore feet, but with big smiles on their faces and many great stories to share.”
Carla Hoffman, 51, of Coppell, Texas, will run this year’s Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon, clinching her 50th state. She’s run in every state except Alaska. Hoffman, an international flight attendant for American Airlines, wanted to make a big deal of the upcoming occasion. “Running in each of the states has been a wonderful way to see our country, stay fit and have a ton of fun,” said Hoffman. “Of course running in your fiftieth state is a big deal and I thought it should be the biggest state in the union. Also, my husband and I will be taking a trip of a lifetime when we leave from here (Anchorage) on an Alaska cruise the day that I finish the Mayor’s Marathon.”
Another popular Anchorage race is the Humpy’s Marathon, part of the Big Wild Life Runs™ organized by ARC. Steve Hughes, 60, an attorney from Chicago, will run the Humpy’s Big Wild Run™ August 16, 2009. In the past five years he has run more than 60 marathons and ultramarathons (a footrace with distances of 30 miles or more). “I ran my first marathon in the 70s, and my second in the early 80s. I was then diagnosed with osteoarthritis and stopped running for nearly 20 years,” said Hughes. “Then I discovered Vioxx, which has since been replaced with Celebrex, and a few other over-the-counter drugs, and have been running ever since.”
BACKGROUND:
A few facts about marathoners who have run a marathon in every state of the union: There have been more astronauts in space than people who have completed a marathon in all 50 states; and eight times more people have climbed Mount Everest than have completed a marathon in all 50 states.
Biography – Steve Hughes was born and raised in Arkansas. He is married to Donna, a native of Lexington, Ky. They currently live in Chicago. Hughes will retire from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in September of 2009 and return to Little Rock, Ark. to be a doting grandfather.
Biography – Carla Hoffman started running marathons just before her 30th birthday. Originally her goal was to run the Boston Marathon, which she qualified for after three additional marathons. Needing an additional goal, she joined a friend in attempting to run a marathon in every state. With Alaska being her 50th state, her next goal will be to run a marathon on all seven continents. Carla is married to Paul Hoffman and they live in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
Alaska’s 50th anniversary of statehood – The Anchorage Times, the largest newspaper in Alaska at the time, summed up the events of June 30, 1958, with the shortest banner headline in its history. In letters six-and-a-half inches high, the newspaper proclaimed in an extra edition: "WE'RE IN." At about 2 p.m. that day in Alaska, phone and Teletype messages to Anchorage conveyed the news that Alaskans longed to hear--after six days of debate, the United States Senate had voted 64-20 to add Alaska as the 49th state. It was the last political hurdle to statehood. The U.S. House had already approved the measure in May and President Dwight D. Eisenhower had already given his support. As sirens blared in towns across the territory that June afternoon, crowds gathered in the streets to celebrate the end of a political struggle that had dominated Alaska politics since the end of World War II. The admission of Alaska became final the following January. A statehood ratification vote attracted the largest voter turnout in the history of the territory and a five-to-one margin for statehood. Following that vote President Eisenhower signed the proclamation admitting the 49th state to the Union. (Information courtesy of the Alaska Humanities Forum)
Other resources:
Everything you want to know about Anchorage
Information about Anchorage Running Club and the Big Wild Life Runs™
What's happening for Alaska’s statehood celebration
Information about the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon
Learn about the Municipality of Anchorage
Additional information on the 50 States Marathon Club
The Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau’s (ACVB) mission is to attract and serve visitors to the Municipality of Anchorage as a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). ACVB’s marketing functions are funded by one-third of the bed tax collected by lodging associations. One-third goes to the Municipality’s general fund, a contribution established in 1978, and one-third to service the bond debt and operations of the Anchorage Convention Centers. ACVB receives no state or federal funds. Explore www.Anchorage.net for more information. # # #
Media Contacts:
Jeanette Anderson Moores
Public Relations
Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau
jmoores@anchorage.net
(907) 276-4118
Explore www.Anchorage.net
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