Event Review: Color Me Rad 5K – Columbia, SC

Oct 22, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Participated in a gimmick event on October 20 – the Color Me Rad 5K.  Gimmicky events seem to be expanding.  As the number of race options explode, event planners are coming up with new and creative ways to lure participants.

Mud runs, burrito dashes, Krispy Kreme challenges.  All of these have a novelty of some sort of offering other than just a scenic course and racing against a clock.

So what did the Color Me Rad have to offer?  Besides a chance to chase my son for 3.1 miles, it also offered a chance to get “bombed” with colored corn starch and squirted with some mystery liquid.  Participants were encouraged to wear white.   And their was a lot of white at the beginning- over 6000 people turned out.  We wore our white and, by the end, we looked like we’d been through the tie dye machine.

So, overall, this gimmicky event was pretty fun.  Anecdotal evidence suggests the young male runner in the family beat the old man by four minutes.  However, since this event had no official timing, that is just a rumor.

 

POFIFOTO!