Staff Report

The 44th annual Run By The River virtual road races are just a week away.
The 5K, 10K or Half Marathon road races are sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of East Greenup County, Ky. and are the longest continuously operating road races in Kentucky.
“While Kiwanis would have rather had a live race, Covid 19 rules would have changed the atmosphere of the races and it would not be the experience we or the runners expect,” race director Tim Gearhart said.
Since the race was planned, Kentucky has announced restrictions on outdoor events would be lifted on June 11 – a day before the scheduled race date. “That announcement didn’t give us enough time to change direction on the races,” Gearhart said.
“However, what we are going to do is offer runners the opportunity to meet on Saturday morning, June 12, at the Russell Senior Citizens Center, to register and run the course of their choice, then report their times to us,” Gearhart said.
Kiwanis members will be at the normal race site at 7:30 a.m. and remain until 11:00 a.m. for runners to report back with their times.
The race director said the club hopes this will maintain some of the atmosphere, but will keep the race a virtual event with each runner keeping and reporting his own time.
The virtual option also has allowed us to add a half marathon option as well as the usual 5K-10K races.
And it will also maintain the club’s claim as the Longest Continuously Operating Road Race in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Runners may register and run anytime between now and midnight Saturday, June 12, from anywhere around the globe. Last year there were runners from California and Texas, Georgia and Florida and one from Tokyo, Japan
Registration is being handled by tristateracer.com and the cost is $25 for runners of any age plus a handling fee and a $2 or $4 up charge for shirts sized XXL or XXXL.
Runners may report times upon completition of their runs but must post times by noon Sunday, June 13 on tristateracer.com.
Registered runners will receive a Bella canvas super soft shirt plus a finisher’s medal. The shirt and medal will be mailed to runners about 10 days after the races close.