Congratulations to all finishers of the inaugural Redmond Harvest Half Marathon, put on jointly by LSRC and Seattle United Runners! We had over 300+ finishers on Labor Day Monday, and saw many fast times and PRs on course. Individual results may be found at: redmondharvesthalf.com/results and photos may be found at: redmondharvesthalf.com/photos. Check out the great albums by SU photographers!
It took many months to get this race off the ground and to race day, and we honestly could not have done it without a lot of volunteer help. We had over 60 volunteers day of, not including family and friends who also pitched in last minute. Many thanks to all our volunteers for their time and energy! I especially want to call out the following:
- The race planning committee, which consisted (from LSRC) of Jordan Andersen, Zach Fung, Nelson La, Sophia Liu, and Stanley Chen; and (from SU)
- Jeff Cao, Mei Chen, Yingwei Liu, and Dan Wu. We worked together closely these past 6 months to get to race day.
- Nina Tang, 60 Acres Aid Station Captain, for (on very short notice) driving my car with supplies down to start and back home when we realized everything was not going to fit in Jordan's van. You guys already had a busy weekend but got up at 5AM anyway to help set up before going to your aid stations.
- Shawn Pearce, 60 Acres Aid Station Captain, for bringing coffee to the volunteers at the start and aid stations. I don't drink straight coffee, but I'm sure many appreciated this!
- Brian Lee, who selflessly stopped while on his way to start to help Zach finish putting up all the course markings. Even with both of them, we barely got the markings up in time. (Brian, I feel terrible you missed the gun because of this.)
- John Nguyen and André Udovenkø, who worked double shifts in the morning when we realized we needed more hands to help set up the start. Thanks for showing up on such short notice!
- Skye Pazuchanics, who worked a double shift as course monitor on the Leary Way Bridge after the second shift volunteers no-showed. She didn't need to, but supported everyone until the very end (I hope your cowbell blister is better!).
- Catherine Williams, who arrived at the start ready to help however she could! I was so glad to have your help on the random little things that kept popping up, and especially for helping with our younger volunteer!
I've been a participant, volunteer, and race committee member, so am no stranger to events. But, there was something really special about seeing everyone and everything come together for the first time on race day. To see so many running friends and acquaintances lining up with excitement and anticipation, and doing their very best. To have so many people support their friends, family, and community through volunteering. To see so many people from different clubs and backgrounds laughing and enjoying the day, together. Running - and sport in general - truly can unite us, and show others the best version of ourselves. To me, that was the true reward of being a part of this inaugural event, and I hope we can keep that spirit going for many more years to come.
