Spark in the Dark

Participants receive a shirt. Want the shirt, but don’t want to run or walk. Go with virtual and we’ll mail it to you. Or volunteer and get a shirt. You do have to sign up as a volunteer ahead of time though. 

It’s tricky finding the same exact shirt color for women and men/unisex and youth. We’ll have some kind of dark color that could be charcoal gray, dark blue, or black. This is what the print looks like on dark shirts.  

The courses give you a tour of Armstrong Park and Lake Vian Trail System. The longer the distance, the more trails you will see.  All distances begin along the same course, with shorter distances breaking away toward the finish line. The first 1.3 miles is combination of open fields and a half lap around our hidden track. Shhhh, hardly anyone knows it's there. The 5k course goes into single track trail for about a quarter mile, returning to paved trail and back along the same course through track and fields to the finish. (5k course map below. Other course maps forthcoming.) The 10k continues onward through trail after 5k participants have broken away. 10k participants will break away from the half marathoners, and follow the first 1.3 miles of track and field to the finish. Half marathoners will get a full tour of most of the trails of Lake Vian Trail System, single track trails and asphalt trails. All three courses are essentially lollipop loops. The longer the distance, the bigger the lollipop.  Water jugs will be placed along the course where the green dots are on the maps. Three water stops for the 5k, 5 for the 10k, eight for the Half Marathon. One aid station with calories for the 10k and half marathon. This is a cupless event. Bring your own water bottle/hydration pack.  Courses will be marked to help guide you along, but it is ultimately your responsibility to know the course ahead of time.  5k will follow red flags, 10k follow white flags, Half Marathon follow blue flags. 

All who complete at least 5k receive a finisher medal. If you sign up for a longer distance, and decide during the event to drop down to a shorter distance, you still receive a finisher medal as long as you completed at least 5k. Drop downs do not qualify for Top 3 Podium awards or place rank, but are classified as an Unofficial Finish.

Top 3 humans in each category receive an Overall Top 3 Podium award. We do not award top 3 female and top 3 male, because our results have shown that both genders are equally capable of outstanding mental and physical performance.  

Early starts are allowed if you do not think you will have time to complete your target distance within the cutoff time. Early starts do not qualify for Top 3 Awards or place rank, but are as an Unofficial Finish.

Our children are our future and our present. We're all about providing positive experiences at an early age that lead to lifelong healthy habits. We love seeing families making memories too. Each parent entry comes with one free child (age 15 or under) entry. This does not apply to virtual. Please direct message us if you are interested.  With this being an evening event, your child must be with you for the 10k and Half Marathon distances and they must have their own light source.

Huge thanks to the Outlaw Trail Series for leading the way on this. When we saw that they do this, we knew it was the right thing to do. Check out their events at https://outlaw100.com for more family experiences. 

Registration may be switched to virtual up to the race start 7pm Wednesday, July 3, 2024. To do this, you will need to log into your RunSignUp account, select Spark in the Dark from the list of your Upcoming Event, select Change Event, and then switch to the Virtual event. 

Trail parties do not happen without volunteers. Volunteers applied for grant money to build the trails. Volunteers helped with training runs leading up to this event. We need volunteers. We have everything from helping with setup, packet pickup, course marshaling, aid station, and pack out. Join our team. Sign up today as a volunteer by clicking on the Volunteer tab above. 

Animals must remain on a leash at all times during event, event setup, event teardown, and while camping before or after the event.

Participants dropping from an event must notify the Race Director, timing company, or one of its representatives prior to leaving the race site.