Hundreds Run In Dam Race

The 20th annual Longest Dam Race saw the most number of participants in the event's history according to Glasgow Chamber Executive Director Lisa Olk.

"We had 308 participants last year and this year we had 408," Olk said. "It was a very well attended event and I don't know what brought the people out, but we are excited for the turnout."

Olk said that the pre-registration was at 308 participants by noon Thursday. She also said that in previous years, the event does about $1,500 worth of sales the day of the race and they met that number as well.

The marketing push to gain the event notoriety each year is a grueling one as the Glasgow Chamber pushes out material by various methods to make sure that people know that the Longest Dam Race is approaching.

"We do fliers and send them out different areas ," said Olk. "We also do a mass-mailing to people who ran in the race the previous year as well as push the event through the local newspapers and radio stations."

Olk said that while the advertising for the event remains local, there's no shortage of people from outside of Montana and North Dakota that participate in the event.

"We had people from Texas who come up every year and plan their vacation around The Dam Race," Olk said. "We also had some people from California who come out yearly and participate in the race."

Olk said that the consistency in which the event is held, on the third week of June every year, probably has something to do with the good turnout each year.

Even with the turnout being at an all-time high this year, Olk said that the determining factor each year is always the weather.

"That's really hard to say, because if the weather is great, people will come out in bunches," Olk said. "We have the race rain nor shine, but the last two years has been the best turnout for us."

In preparation for the race each year, Olk said about two hours of man-hours is required to mark the course, which has been the same course since 2009.

"Most people that we have participating in this event have ran this race before so they are familiar with the layour of the course."

For those who are running the course for the first time, Olk said that besides the markers in the ground and a map of the course, the runners can rely on four water stations set up throughout the course as a guide on where to run.

The top finisher overall for women in the 10k run was Irene Whitmer who finished the course with a time of 41 minutes and 22 seconds.

The men's side saw Fabian Munoz finish the course in a blistering time of 35:15.