The BTC Summer Series is my favorite running event of the year and with cool weather it is even more outstanding. With over 350 competing last night, I guess it is a lot of people's favorite event too.
I like seeing all the young athlete out there because too often our local running races are dominated by a much older crowd. Part of the reason is the younger athletes are competing for their schools during the rest of the year and do not need more races. But I big part is that the races cost too much.
Now I do not mean the race organizers are gouging everyone, it is just when you add in a t-shirt, trophies/medals, announcer, supplies and other costs, there is an overhead. Plus the race does want to raise money for it's cause. What is nice about the summer series is it is cheap ($3 for students, $4 for BTCers and $5 for others)!
Because of all these factors the race has gotten extremely popular. Another reason people like it is us slow people get a chance to beat you fast people! Interestingly, many of the first races fastest ran slower this week. If you cross the line and you see the clock over thirty minutes, you went slower than last time. On the other hand many of the slow people went way to fast (me included) and killed our handicaps.
Though not a handicap race, everyone should go to the McFarland Summer Series races this summer. The course is less than 20 miles away and is a fun challenging course. Plus the proceeds go towards supporting the McFarland High School running teams. The next race is Tuesday the 23rd and the entry fees are the same as the BTC's. To get there take the Porterville Hwy to Sherwood Ave and turn left (westward). The race is up the road a bit on the left hand side.
