The Alaska Heart Run, one of Alaska's biggest footraces, will feature more elbow room, less elevation gain and a new gathering point this year.
The 5-kilometer race will start and finish at UAA's Alaska Airlines Center, not far from UAA's Arts Building, which served as the start/finish area for decades.
The 37th annual race will follow familiar territory around the UAA and Alaska Pacific University campuses, said Nathaniel Grabman, the race marshal who designed the new course.
"It's still the Heart Run. There's still enough of it that's basically the same," Grabman said. "If someone hasn't run the Heart Run in 10 or 15 years and they showed up, they wouldn't recognize the start but once they got going, they'd be 'I know this. I know where it goes next.' ''
Grabman said he expects the 3.1-mile course to produce times similar to or maybe a bit faster than those recorded on the old course
Runners will still make a 180-degree turn on Elmore Road near Tudor Road, and they'll still ascend what's known as Heart Run hill on their way to another turnaround at APU's Atwood Center.
"They'll encounter the hill a little earlier," Grabman said -- near the end of the first mile, about half a mile earlier than before.
Runners will run on parts of the Elmore roundabout three times, and they'll find a third and final turnaround at the Arts Building parking lot.
There will be slightly less elevation gain because the high point of the course isn't as high as before. Runners will turn around at the Atwood Center instead of continuing to climb a bit beyond it.
"In the past you could look down at the Atwood Center," Grabman said. "This (turnaround is) not as high in elevation."
The Heart Run is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Last year's race attracted a field of nearly 6,000 and raised $245,000, said Kristin Luby, a development director for the association's Alaska division.
This year's goal is $252,000, she said. By Wednesday afternoon, the tally was at $196,000.
"We are on course to beat last year and we hope that will continue," Luby said. "Our goal is to raise money so we can advance research technology. I'd be very happy to one day not have a job."
Luby said the move from the Arts Building to the Alaska Airlines Center should give the race room to grow and runners a bit more room to move around in. She said there will be more room at the front of the pack when runners line up to start, and Grabman said there will be a longer straightaway before runners make their first turn.
Luby said registration is ahead of schedule, with about 3,000 signed up as of Wednesday, two days before the first of three bib pickup and registration events at the King Career Center.
She said a lot of the early signups are from schools competing for the Heart Run's traveling trophy, which goes to the school that enters the highest percentage of its student body. Huffman Elementary won last year's award but Northern Lights ABC is this year's early leader, she said.
The Heart Run welcomes the young and the old, the swift and the slow. It has a festive atmosphere, and for many participants it's their first race after a long winter.
Lending a serious side to the race is its cause. The money raised helps fund research and programs that help fight cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and each year the field includes participants who have waged personal fights against those things. They wear red caps and compete in the Mended Heart division.
"The Heart Run is our mission in action -- getting people active and moving," Luby said. "We want people to come out and have a fun time and understand that exercise can be fun."
Alaska Heart Run 5-K
Saturday, April 25 at the Alaska Airlines Center
Signing up
— Online at AlaskaHeartRun.org
— On the phone at 907-865-5300
— In person at any of three bib pickup events at the King Career Center or on the morning of the race at the Alaska Airlines Center
Entry fees
Timed 5-K — $30 (adults), $15 (18 and younger)
Untimed 5-K — $25 (adults), $10 (18 and younger)
No entry fee for children under 4 ($5 late fee after Saturday)
Bib pickups (King Career Center)
— Saturday, noon-3 p.m.
— Wednesday, April 22, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
— Friday, April 24, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Race day schedule
7:30-9 a.m. — Registration and bib pickup
9:30 a.m. — Start of timed 5-K
10 a.m. — Start of untimed 5-K and 3-K