By Gary Giombetti for Mesabi Tribune (published July 2)
HIBBING — After a successful year No. 1, Hibbing Parks and Recreation Program Director Heather Matvey believes that year two will be even more successful.
So far, that’s the case as registrations for the First Avenue Mile have been coming in fast and furious for the event, which will be held Friday, July 11, with races beginning at 7 p.m., 7:20 p.m. and 7:40 p.m.
Matvey said she had 225 participants last year, which was the first year back for the race in 25 years.
“After last year, the feedback we got right after the event was positive,” Matvey said. “They were excited to have it back, and they will be doing it again. It’s hard to know exactly how far that word of mouth reaches, but our registration has currently doubled where it was last year at this time.
“That is optimistic for us that that positivity and word of mouth is working. It was such a longstanding event, so for the first year back to have such a buy-in from the community, was a huge win for us. We were excited with the turnout.”
Matvey wanted to keep the race as close as she could to honor the previous history of the Mile.
“Last year while we were bringing it back, we wanted to honor what the event was, but also, work with what was already happening during the Jubilee,” Matvey said. “We wanted the least amount of trouble, the least amount of disruption.
“We evaluated that, then we looked at what we wanted this event to be. We prioritized that. We managed those mitigating factors, limiting the disruption to the community but still honor the past.”
Last year, the race started a couple of blocks from 31st Street.
This year, Matvey has moved the course back a block-and-a-half south of last year’s starting line, with the finish line at the Mesabi Tribune, like it was in the beginning of its existence.
“We did move it a lot closer to the original course because it wasn’t going to bother the community too much,” Matvey said. “It was worth it to us. Putting that course back to where it was originally, it gives us some freedom to expand a little bit at the finish line.”
There was another reason, too.
“We can also look at those old course records as well,” Matvey said. “With that said, there’s a couple of other changes we made this year to honor the tradition of the race, with one being the race course and the other is making it an evening race.
“Being on Friday evening, it gives it a feeling of being a little bit closer to what it was originally. We also changed the branding of the logo to be a nod to the original medals. We wanted it to look like that original feel. We can’t do everything exactly the same, but we want to honor the rich history that Brian Karich and his team created when it was around the first time.”
Matvey believes that running it Friday night is the best way to achieve the goal of honoring the tradition of the race.
“That’s a different feeling,” Matvey said. “It also celebrates the whole weekend of the Jubilee. When it was Saturday morning, that was a long day for the community to buy in and be involved in all of those things.
“Moving it to Friday night, that makes the event really cool, but it also spreads some of it out and encourages participation in the whole weekend. People are excited to have it on Friday night. They were surprised initially but once the idea settles in, I’ve heard positive feedback by moving it to the evening.”
Matvey has been trying to collect data from back in 1983, but that has been hard to come by.
She did find a brochure from 1985 that had record times on it.
“We asked the library to look in the archives but that technology piece makes it hard,” Matvey said. “When it was around at first, everything was paper, pencil and stopwatches. There’s not a database of all those course records.
“We’re having a hard time finding that. In 1985, that would be the third year, so we do have those records that we plan to publish for people to try to match. We don’t have the records from every year that it was run, so we don’t know if this is an all-time course record, but we have something to compare it to and shoot for, which is a fun piece to bring back the history of it.”
As far as the registrations go, Matvey said it’s mostly local people, and people who will be coming back to town for the Jubilee weekend.
“They want to hop into the memories and nostalgia of the weekend,” Matvey said. “Being our second year, I don’t know if we’re getting those elite runners from far away, but definitely from the Iron Range and definitely a few from Duluth.
“It will be fun to see how fast those times actually get.”
Registrations will be taken up until the time of the race.
“We have a website and flyers around town,” Matvey said. “It’s runsignup.com, then search for First Avenue Mile. They can sign up anytime online up until the start of the first race.
“They can either pay cash or pay online. Registration is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. onsite. You can grab a T-shirt, but they’re limited, while supplies last. They can get their shirt and bib.”
*** For the online version, see https://tinyurl.com/22dxj9r9
Photo: Course records of the First Avenue Mile prior to the 1985 race.