- The History of the Nearly Famous
- Ellaville Road Race
In preparation for the Ellaville/Schley county
homecoming in 1980, the late Endine Hart encouraged me to put on a road
race as a part of the
days events. The rest is history. From 1980-1982
the race was known as the Ellaville Road Race. Road racing was in its
heyday during those years and the Ellaville race seemed to be a big
favorite with runners. Someone suggested that we were
becoming very famous and maybe should call the race " The Famous
Ellaville Road Race". But of course, fame is a destination and not a
place. It's kind of like stepping on your shadow--Try as you might, you
just never can quite do it. It is always nearly but not quite.
That was and still is the story of the race--We
strive to be famous but always seem to fall just short of the mark.
Hence the name change in 1983 we became "The (nearly famous) Ellaville
Road Races. The feature race, 5 miles in those days, was a favorite of
runners from all over the Southeast.
In 1983 and 1984, Running in Georgia magazine named
us the top race in Georgia. In 1984 and 1985, yours truly, was named
race director of the year in Georgia. On 6 different occasions the race
has been won by Olympians. John Tuttle won it four times, Craig Virgin
once, and Marty Flynn of Ireland once. Tuttles 23:45 in 1983 and Kim
Trupps 27:25 in 1986 are the fastest times ever run in the state of
Georgia for the 5 mile distance. The races were not run for a few years
during the early 90s but started up again about mid decade. The distance
was shortened to 5K-(3.1 miles). In 2003 the 5K was dropped and since
that time only the one mile is contested as it has been since 1980.
The race is open to all Schley County school children
and all get to run it FREE. Each runner gets a (nearly famous) t-shirt
before the race and a medal upon completion of the race. The race has 20
local sponsors who cover all expenses. In fact, because of their
generous support, we make enough profit to provide running shoes to all
of the track and cross country runners on the Schley County high school
teams each year. Just another example of what a wonderful place
Ellaville/Schley County is. The race starts at the historical marker in
front of the courthouse.
Race time is 8:00 A.M. It is quite a sight to see
nearly, there's that word again, 400 kids toe the starting line. I urge
you all to be here to see the race as once again, we strive to become
Famous. See you on April 15th. Tommy
Our thanks to Tommy Barnes for sharing
this.