Thousands of runners came to Ohio State’s campus to participate in the Nike Human Race Friday.
Ohio State and the University of Southern California were chosen to participate in the Human Race Challenge to see how many miles each school could log in preparation.
OSU drew about 3,500 runners after the homecoming parade Friday, compared to 8,500 at USC. Nike has not yet released which school logged more miles.
Last year was the first year Nike hosted the Human Race — drawing more than 780,000 runners in 25 cities — making it the largest single-day running event in the world. This year, Nike went to break that record with races in more than 30 cities worldwide.
OSU was chosen by Nike to kick off the Human Race Friday night, with other races following on Saturday.
“When you look at college campuses, you don’t want to look farther than Ohio State for energy, for enthusiasm, for committed students [and] for athletes,” said Cindy Hamilton, a Nike spokeswoman who helped organize the event. “We wanted to be at a large campus with a ton of energy, and there aren’t really any other colleges that fit that bill.”
The race began after the homecoming parade ended. Runners started on College Road next to Hagerty Hall and continued on a loop through campus, passing iconic buildings such as Ohio Stadium. The race ended on 12th Avenue near Enarson Hall.
Runners had the option of running a 5K race, looping once around
campus, or a 10K, looping twice.
Some notable people were on hand to encourage participants. Brutus Buckeye led the runners at the launch of the race and OSU
President E. Gordon Gee led everyone in a few “O-H-I-O” cheers as they were waiting for the start.
“I’m so proud of my guys,” Gee said. “We got two or three thousand [runners]. They’re out here supporting each other, and they’re having a heck of a good time.”
The race wasn’t timed — runners were encouraged to time themselves — but the top finishers were still rewarded. Matt Cymanski, a first-year in engineering, and Jessie Maier, a second-year in animal sciences, were the first male and female runners to finish the 5K race, which translates to 3.1 miles. Matt Suttle, a 30-year-old school teacher in Dublin, and Caitlin Wiley, a graduate student in the College of Veterinary Medicine, were the winners of the 10K race, which is 6.2 miles.
Cymanski, the first person to cross the finish line, said he recorded his race time at a little more than 17 minutes, with a pace of about 5 minutes 30 seconds per mile.
“It’s pretty exciting to say I won one of the Human Races,” Cymanski said. “There’s 3,000 people here, but all over the world there’s thousands of more people [in the race], and it’s exciting just to be part of that many people running.”
After the race, many went to the South Oval to see a concert by DJ Z-Trip, held exclusively for runners. DJ Z-Trip was recently voted the No. 1 DJ in America by DJ Times magazine.
Runners had the opportunity to sign up for the race beginning in mid-August. Nike set up booths at the Recreation and Physical Activity Center to recruit runners. Everyone who registered received a free Nike Human race running shirt, which was required apparel for the race, donning each runner’s bib number.
Runners had to pay a registration fee of $10, with half going to OSU’s “Students First, Students Now” fund, which gives aid to students through scholarships, loans and emergency funds. The race raised more than $25,000 for the fund, according to the Nike Web site.
It was unknown at press time how many runners participated worldwide in the event. More information on the event can be found at nikerunning.nike.com.
