Even without Race the Base, it would have been a perfect day to be in the park. This year it was the perfect celebration of 10 years of running the Base Trail at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. The race started 11 years ago (2020 was skipped due to COVID-19) when Lisa Mullis, a local runner and Partners for Pinnacle board member, decided to put on a race for her friends. Growing from there, various sponsors showed up to support the runners including different beer vendors, this year was Flyway Brewing of North Little Rock. The Little Rock Hash House Harriers have shown up for years donating and cooking hot dogs for the finish party. Early in the history of the race, Parkview High School Art Students began creating the unique awards coveted by the runners.
It was a year of transitions with Ms. Mullis sharing much of the event’s organization with Noelle Coughlin of Fleet Feet Little Rock. In the coming years, Fleet Feet Little Rock will take the central role of putting on the race. In the last year, race-timer Ken McSpadin retired. Lucky for the race organizers, local trail runner, Kenny Garner purchased Mac’s Race Timing from Ken and the timing didn’t miss a beat. Even the beer was a bit different. David Breen has been the beer sponsor supplying Oskar Blues, Rebel Kettle, and Yuengling Beer over the years. This year, David’s wedding fell on the same day so he arranged for Jason from Flyway to take care of the race this year. It all went off without a hitch.
Of course, the main show is Pinnacle Mountain State Park. Again, the weather was perfect for trail running. The mountain was dressed with fall color, the trails had been cleared of leaves by the good folks of the Central Arkansas Master Naturalists. A perfect day in the park. Besides having the park in top shape, the park staff professionally handled the one injury during the race.
Looking for results? Check them out here.
There are three albums linked below. Feel free to download and share. Use hashtags #aroutside #racethebase #fleetfeetlr and tag all of your friends.
You can find almost 300 photos of the runners here.
Check out the photos of the Kingfisher Kids Run here.
Plus, a bunch of photos from the finish and after-party here.
