Imagine no limitations or pressure during a friendly running competition, with new people that share your same interest.
As you walk up to the base you see hundreds of people in their running shoes and running gear either stretching or mingling with each other as they prepare to race. There’s music blasting from a DJ to get the crowd pumped as event organizers and vendors give out free goodies.
There are people from just about every age group here – coupled, single, or in families.
With no set trail or course to take, only a map of different locations for you to walk or run to, you are given total control.
Every third Thursday of each month, Road Runner Sports in Tempe Marketplace hosts a scavenger-hunt-like run in which runners and walkers of all age groups gear up and race to search for checkpoints for one hour in order to win some amazing prizes.
The first Adventure Run took place in March with only 75 participants, and has been growing drastically ever since. The Aug. 18 Adventure Run had more than 450 people register.
Retail Event Coordinator Andrew Buswell, who has been putting on events like this for four years, says the Road Runner Sports event first began in Seattle and has now expanded into San Diego and Tempe.
“Tempe is the only city we’re going to be doing year-round because of the weather,” Buswell says. “We had over 300 people show up last month; as long as people continue to show up we will continue to host more of them.
Tempe is our smallest right now because of the weather but every month since we started it in every city it has gotten bigger.”
He says the company plans to continue to expand the event next year with at least double the cities all the way to the east coast.
Participants start off by meeting at the store to sign up and register. They can even buy a T-shirt that will give them more of an advantage in the raffles given after the race.
Organizers then pull out a giant map of the 12 checkpoints; runners get an hour to visit as many as they can in any order that they’d like.
The route is about six miles but runners don’t have to visit every checkpoint, although the more checkpoints that each runner visits the better their chances are in the raffle, which includes thousands of dollars in running gear and gift certificates for local businesses.
“There’s no set course so it’s kind of like a choose-your-own adventure,” Buswell says. “People see this map and they have an hour to run as many checkpoints as they can. They are not limited to just join a certain one. The more check points you hit, though, the more raffle tickets you get. People usually try to hit as much as they can in that 60-minute time period.”
During registration, each runner is given a checkpoint sheet where they can mark down the location of each. Some of the checkpoints in the August run were at places such as Devils’ Advocate, Peter Piper Pizza, Chick-fil-A, San Felipe’s Cantina and Big Surf.
Buswell also explains how even though not everyone wins the raffle, everyone usually goes home with something.
During the beginning of the event, vendors from Chick-fil-A, Powerade Zero, Muscle Milk and more offered free items for participants to take home.
As for moments in between the raffle, organizers standing on top of a big, black DCB bus would throw about 50 shirts and water bottles out to the crowd along with other running products.
Runners older than 21 who register before noon can enjoy free beers from Dechutes Brewery, the event’s beer sponsor, while mingling with other runners and listening to music as a DJ performs.
Buswell said he noticed the event has also become a good way for singles to meet.
“It’s almost turned into a singles’ social mixer,” Buswell says. “Some people show up by themselves and they don’t know where they’re going in the city and they will just start running with another group. It’s free and a great way to meet people. It’s definitely gearing toward younger people. I think it’s a great way for people to get into running and meet other runners.”
Chris Red, a recent ASU graduate in Multimedia Communication and technical writing, says August was his first participation in the Adventure Run but that he already plans on joining in for the next one.
“After being cooped up in school it’s nice to get to out and meet people at places like this, where people share the same interests and are into the same thing,” Red says. “It’s a great social event.”
If you go…
Third Thursday Adventure Fun Run
Road Runner Sports
Tempe Marketplace, Loop 202 and McClintock Drive, Tempe
Oct. 20, 6 p.m.
Price: Free
480-968-2022, http://tempeadventurerun.eventbrite.com/?ref=ebtn
Contact the reporter at mvainaus@asu.edu
