As many as a thousand people are expected to crowd the starting line of tomorrow's running of the 8 Tuff Miles road race.
Race organizer and founder Peter Alter says registrations this year include competitors from London, Canada, and Finland. A running club from a Cincinnati running store is expected to have two dozen entries, twice the number of last year.
But all eyes are likely to be on Jeremy Zuber, a mid-20s island resident who is employed at Caneel Bay Resort. He's won the race six times.
Start time is 7:15 a.m. Saturday. The 8.375 mile course begins at the National Park ball field and follows Centerline Road all the way to the Coral Bay finish line.
Race monitors will be on the lookout this year for 'bandits', people who are running the route but didn't register for the race. They won't be allowed near the finish line, a race organizer told the St. John Source.
While the first-place finishers will cross the line within an hour after the start, there will be runners, joggers, walkers and even lollygaggers on the road for several hours afterward. In its latter stages, 8 Tuff Miles becomes as much a community meeting as it was a race.
- Official Web site: 8tuffmiles.com
Good luck runners! I hope to give this run a try one day.
Cheers!
I lost $100 betting on Zuber. I thought there was no way he could be beat. I’ll bet anyone $500 that next year he wins and gets his old record back. Meet me in Marketplace lobby this Saturday at noon to shake on it.