Flat and Fast Rural Hall 5K/10K - Rural Hall, North Carolina - Running

The Flat and Fast Rural Hall 5K/10K is a Running race in Rural Hall, North Carolina consisting of a 10K and 5K.

Saturday, Oct. 26th, 2019: is the 13th running of the Flat & Fast Rural Hall 10K and the 5th running of the Flat & Fast Rural Hall 5K! Both races are USA Track & Field certified! Our 5K is a Costume Run (optional of course) so you can dress up and have fun showing off your face paint and/or outfit just before Halloween!

As usual, our event is a charity run, with all proceeds over race expenses going to the Rural Hall Elementary School. In the past 3 years, with your support, we were able to give them a net check for over $7,000 each year! In 2019, our goal will be to exceed $8,000! The school uses all of these funds for student programs and incentives that could not be offered without this event.

Race Date and Times: Saturday, October 26th, 2019. Our race times allow friends and couples to arrive together, with one running the 5K and one running the 10K. The 10K starts at 8:00 AM and the 5K starts at 8:15 AM with both races finishing close to the same time at a common finish line with the help of our state of the art chip timing technology that knows which race you are running.

Location: Mayflower Seafood Restaurant Parking lot, 665 Montroyal Rd, Rural Hall, NC 27045. Take Hwy 52 North from Winston Salem, Exit 118, Hwy 65, Rural Hall-Bethania and turn right before the end of the exit ramp into the Mayflower Seafood parking lot. The starting line and finish line, as well as runner parking are all located in the Mayflower parking lot. Registration is inside the lobby of the Mayflower and overflow parking is available next door at Tractor Supply or across Hwy 65 at Food Lion.

FEES: 5K Registration Fees (USATF Certified): $25 through October 23*; then $30 for walk ups on race day.
10K Registration Fees (USATF Certified): $30 through October 23*; then $35 for walk ups on race day
Virtual Runner Registration: 5K = $25 through October 23*, 10K = $30 through October 23* This means you will not attend our event, but want to support it anyway. The plan is to run your own race at a time and course of your choosing. You won't be eligible for awards but we do invite you to share photos, times, and any thoughts about your run with us on our Facebook page. You may change your registration to virtual status any time before October 23 at no charge and we'll see that you get your runner bag and shirt, by mail if you live over 30 miles away from Rural Hall, NC. Otherwise, please pick up at my office at Steve Hill Agency, 310 Bethania-Rural Hall Rd, Rural Hall, NC 27045. Early Packet Pickup will be available Thursday afternoon, October 24 from noon until 5pm and Friday from 8:30am to 5pm at the Nationwide Insurance office, 310 Bethania-Rural Hall Road (Hwy 65), Rural Hall, NC across from Hayworth Miller Funeral Home.

Race day walk up registration will start at 6:15 AM for all events inside the lobby of Mayflower Seafood, Rural Hall, NC. Please arrive early to allow time to process your registration. Race day registration closes promptly at 7:50 AM for the 10K and at 8:05 AM for the 5K.

Changes from 5K to 10K or 10K to 5K: There will be a $5.00 bib number change fee on race day for anyone wanting to switch divisions (from 10K to 5K, or 5K to 10K) on or after October 22, 2019. But free changes can be made prior to October 22 by contacting Steve Hill, race director: promisekp@earthlink.net or 336-969-9511 so we'll have time to make changes to our registration before bib numbers/chips are programmed. We use different colored bib numbers for each race so our course volunteers can properly keep each runner on the course that they are running, so these must be changed if you decide to run another race than the one you originally registered for online!

159 Total Awards for 5K and 10K:
aTROPHIES - Top 3 Male Runners & Top 3 Female Runners Overall for the 5K AND the Top 3 Male Runners & Top 3 Runners Overall for the 10K (6 trophies for each race)!
aMEDALS - Top 3 Male & Top 3 Female for each race in the following age groups: under age 15, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-69, Masters 70+ (so that's 12 age groups receiving 3 medals for males and 3 medals for females for a total of 72 medals per race)
a5K only - $50, $30, & $20 cash prizes for the best 5K costume (judging at the starting line, 8:05am). Runners are not required to run in their costumes, following the judging, but must wear something! After all this is a family friendly event!
Course Maps - both our 5K and 10K are USATF certified courses!

IF YOU HAVEN'T RUN WITH US BEFORE, HERE'S A FEW MORE DETAILS BY RACE:

5K USATF Certified Course a we added a 5K four years ago, which is absolutely flat, was an instant hit with our runners and has become our most popular race! It is great for first time runners or walkers, for runners coming back from an injury, or for anyone wanting to beat their previous 5K times! We canat include pets (except for registered handicap assist dogs), but joggers, walkers with children, or even runners pushing infant strollers are welcome as long as you can finish the 5K within 75 minutes. After a staggered start, both races will be run simultaneously so runners can even arrive and celebrate together with one running the 10K and the other running the 5K! As you will see in the awards section, we have 159 awards to present so every runner has an excellent chance of going home with one!

10K USA Certified Course - As prior runners know, we do have 3 hills on the 10K course, but it's still very flat for this area. Runners tell us that it helps to have some hills in the first two miles of the course to fire up their muscles for the totally flat remaining 2/3s of the course. As the maps will show, the first hill is a relatively low grade but lengthy hill as you return up Forum Parkway from the turn around point in front of Professional Carpet Systems, just as the road narrows from four lanes to two. Then as the course turns right onto Old Belt Way, a slightly steeper, but much shorter hill takes runners up to Angus Street, which is flat and for a short stretch on Hwy 65. Then the course turns downhill onto Sommerdale, where it meanders through a residential area, where you'll encounter a rather steep but short hill on Runningbrook back up to Hwy 65 and the rest of the course is as flat as if you were running down an airport runway! The remainder of the trip to Town Hall in Rural Hall and then back to the Mayflower with no more neighborhood detours, also includes the three water stations, each with a choice of gatorade or water in 9 oz cups. NCDOT allows us to close a lane of the 3 lane Hwy 65 so you'll be protected from auto traffic and will be given priority over auto traffic at all intersections. Course volunteers are at every turn, so no course markings are needed. At all six mile markers, volunteers with stop watches call out runner interim times as you pass them and encourage you on!

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND We will continue to pamper you with:
1.INSIDE REGISTRATION: We offer walk up registration on race day, starting at 6:15am, inside the lobby of Mayflower Seafood in Rural Hall with quick pre-registered packet pickup inside the lobby as well! Restrooms are available for all runners inside, along with doughnuts and coffee. We also have 4 port-a-johns near the start/finish line to allow for one last pit stop right before race time!
2.CHIP TIMING - After a count down and air horn start, our runners are chip timed by way of a programmable chip attached behind their bib number. Our finish line is well managed by Go Sports Timing & Events out of Mount Airy, NC to provide instant results to our finishers on a large flat screen TV so runners may see their results right away. There are also large digital clock displays for each runner to see as they make their final approach to the finish line. Chip timing, not only accurately times runners of both the 5K & 10K using a common finish line but also allows us to start handing out our 159 awards as soon as one race is completed.

3.FOOD, MUSIC, CHEERING CROWDS TO WELCOME YOU TO THE FINISH LINE!!! We will continue to spoil our runners with a water bottle handed to each runner at the finish line! And in the nearby food tent, we have more water, chocolate milk, Gatorade, bananas & other fruit, pastries, cookies, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, etc. and we add more goodies every year! We also keep fresh coffee going in the lobby of the Mayflower for spectators and runners throughout the event as we are one of the first cool weather races of the Fall. We will again have a DJ playing family friendly music at the start/finish line with runners being announced as they finish their respective races! The Piedmont Cheering Hearts (Rural Hall's own senior citizens award winning cheer leading squad) will help to greet runners as they reach the finish line!

4.SHIRTS: A sporty logo for our custom printed HanesBrands shirt is shown above! We guarantee choice of shirt sizes to those pre-registering by October 23th and offer T-shirts to walk up registrations on race day as supplies last.

We love our runners and do our best to give everyone an experience worth repeating each year, while raising funds for a great cause!

Group discounts are available for 10 or more runners from the same running club, organization, or school pre-registering as a group by mail on customized registration forms that we will provide. Call Steve Hill at 336-969-9511 or email to: promisekp@earthlink.net for details prior to October 1 to give us time to process bulk lists of runners or single checks, which save each participant the online processing fee in addition to a $5 discount per runner, for a total of $8.25 savings per group member running with us!

Steve Hill, Race Director, 336-969-9511, promisekp@earthlink.net