KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Alaska’s Emerald Isle is known for its many shades of green, but this weekend a few other colors will be thrown into the mix. Participants in the first ever Splash of Color race will toe the starting line on Sunday, dressed in white. But as Angela Graham, one of the race organizers, explains, their clothes won’t stay white for very long.
“A color run is a 5k and it’s where you hit checkpoints and you’re splashed with different colors as you go through those checkpoints. So really what you’re doing is you’re starting at the beginning in a white T-Shirt and your running clothes and at the end you’re this huge rainbow of colors.”
Graham said the color comes from a biodegradable paint powder that is mixed with corn starch. She said it’s all washable, but you can make it stay on your clothes by washing them in vinegar and ironing where the color is.
Color Runs have popped up all over the country, most recently in Anchorage, where more than 15,000 participants painted the town and themselves back in June. Kodiak’s run isn’t affiliated with THE Color Run, which is actually a for-profit organization that partners with charities in the locations of the runs. Instead, Sunday’s run was started by three locals who noticed the community interest in having something like it in Kodiak.
“And so we just decided that we were going to do it.”
The race is actually a fundraiser for Graham’s Relay for Life team, The Brechan Catepillars, so all proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.
Graham said about 185 people have already preregistered, and they expect many more to sign up at the start of the race. It’s not the 15,000 that showed up in Anchorage, but Graham said it’s still a lot more interest than she initially thought.
“This has become a lot bigger than the three of us ever thought it would. So people are going to have to bare with us but we’ll definitely do it again because this has been a huge hit and we haven’t even run.”
The race course starts at 2 p.m. at the Pillar Creek Hatchery and ends at White Sands Beach where a free barbecue will be provided for participants. She said folks not interested in doing the race are welcome to volunteer, and many people have already stepped up to do so.
If anyone is interested in signing up they can do so on the race’s website, splash of Kodiak dot com. Those who register online before Sunday get first dibs on T-shirts, which of course, are white.
