It’s going to feel like the Fourth of July all over again Sunday for 15K Utica Boilermaker Road Race runners.
The event’s inaugural Patriotic Mile along Champlin Avenue and part of Whitesboro Street will feature a red, white and blue balloon arch, bands and American flags lining the course.
It’s part of the annual Boilermaker spectator contest, New Hartford/Yorkville team captain Kevin McDonald said.
| NEIGHBORHOOD PROFILE |
| * Who: Dick Griffiths * Where: Champlin Avenue, Yorkville — mile 7 of the Boilermaker * What: For the past 12 years, Dick Griffiths has sat on his porch with family members and friends to watch the hordes of runners pass. “We just sit and drink coffee, eat donuts, and watch them go by,” Griffiths said. “It’s like a wild heard of buffalo coming down Champlin Ave.” Every year, Griffiths has to be sure he gets the donuts from Holland Farms early enough in the morning, or else be blocked off. * Local Signature: “We have a guy with a garden hose hooked up to a telephone pole and they run under that … the guy next door has a band that plays,” Griffiths said. |
The contest pits East Utica, West Utica, South Utica and New Hartford/Yorkville in a battle for the best spectators along their own portions of the race course.
“Ours is the easy one; it’s all downhill,” McDonald said of the Champlin Avenue stretch that includes portions of the race’s seventh and eighth miles. “That’s what makes us special.”
McDonald hopes the addition of the Patriotic Mile will further distinguish the New Hartford/Yorkville stretch by creating a signature event similar to what East Utica has done with the International Mile featuring refugees’ traditional dress, music and dancing.
The competition is all in good fun, McDonald said. Everybody wants to win to gain the bragging rights, but the real focus is on the community as a whole coming out to support the Boilermaker.
“Everyone wants to win their section,” McDonald said. “But really, everybody wins.”
The West Utica team has won four of the last seven contests, a fact McDonald and others attribute to its position on the finish line of the race.
“It’s tough to beat that last section,” Russ Schmitt of Oriskany Garage, Tire and Automotive Services on Champlin Avenue said. “That’s where all the beer is.”
This is McDonald’s third year as New Hartford/Yorkville captain, and he said planning for the team begins back in January and includes scheduling bands as well as other events along the race course. The Boilermaker gives 500 signs, 500 balloons and helium to decorate to each team to decorate and distinguish each section. Anything extra for the teams comes out of pocket.
“I wish they would help us out a little more, we’re kind of the red-headed step-child of the committee,” McDonald said. “But everybody wants their section to look great so nobody really cares.”
The Utica Elks Lodge No. 33 on Champlin Avenue will do its part in aiding the Boilermaker festivities by hosting a lodge party and music for spectators.
