From Legends to Daffy Duck, Runners Bring Color to Crim Ten Mile

By Ron Marinucci

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Flint on the fourth Saturday of August to run and walk the various Crim races in its 33 years. Among them have been the very best in the world—Olympians, world and national champions and record holders. They have come from dozens of foreign nations and other states, as well as from every corner of Michigan.

Each year, more than 120,000 paper cups and 56,000 safety pins are required. Almost 200 street intersections in Flint must be closed and marshaled. Upwards of 3500 volunteers help to ensure a smooth race day.

Tens of thousands of spectators also line the course, from start to finish. Many families have been there for 20 or 30 years. Some, with homes along the route, serve breakfasts, even with champagne. Local fraternities man “aid” stations offering doughnuts and sometimes beer to help refuel runners.

Music is provided by rock bands and local radio stations. For years, the Bristol Road Church of Christ choir has serenaded runners just before the dreaded Bradley Hills. Keeping pace, the Swartz Creek High School band offers its musical encouragement at the mile seven water stop.

Under the supervision of Crim runner Dr. Jon Schriner, the Crim medical tent has evolved to include almost 100 doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other volunteers. Fibrillators and other cardiac equipment now take their places next to water, ice, and aspirin.

More Crims than not, Jolly Jo the Klown has been there to entertain the Special Olympians at their Friday evening events and other runners on Saturday morning. One year, ten runners ran en masse in Daffy Duck costumes. In 1987, ten creative runners sewed several sheets together, cut holes for their heads, and ran as a 50-foot long centipede. Nash Barrera also ran in 1987, dressed in shirt and tie, carrying a briefcase. He set a dubious record, breaking his previous mark of running in a shirt and tie, carrying a briefcase.

“Samantha Carpenter” registered to run one year, was given a race number and tee shirt, and finished the race. “Samantha” was a dog! She remains the only dog to receive an official finishing time in the Crim. Dogs were then officially banned from future races.

In 1985, Ken and Lisa Martin won the overall men’s and women’s ten-milers. They were then husband and wife and shared a victory kiss at the finish line on Saginaw Street.

On a sadder note, in 1994 Jack Spencer became the Crim’s first fatality. He collapsed and died around the nine-mile mark of an apparent heart attack. Eleven years later, Charlie Kandas became the second runner to die at the Crim. Ironically, he fell not far from where Spencer went down, just shy of the finishing bricks of Saginaw Street.

For years Gary Brainard and Mike Bowen have run the 10-miler to honor US soldiers lost in Vietnam. Bowen, known as “The Flagman,” has carried his 20-pound POW/MIA flag, “You are not forgotten,” with him in his quest to run a mile for every one of his fellow servicemen who died in or are missing from the Vietnam War.

The very last race running legend Dr. George Sheehan ran was the Crim 10 Mile in 1992. He had terminal cancer and would die shortly after. But Sheehan finished the Crim in a little more than two hours, stopping along the way to share a couple of beers with cheering spectators.

In 2004, Dr. Donald Reed from Mt. Morris was deployed with the US Army in Iraq. As August neared, the battlefield trauma surgeon itched to run the Crim. He asked permission to create his own “Crim” 10-mile course in Mosul. Waiving his entry fee, Crim officials gave their blessings, along with tee shirts and finishing medals for Reed and three other soldiers. They ran their “Crim” in the 100-degree heat of Mosul on the fourth Saturday of August.