Runners and walkers gathered at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Sunday to take part in the Hometown Happenings Public Enemy 5K Run/2K Walk. Participants were treated with beautiful conditions for the race which featured a ‘Dillinger-esque’ theme that included 1930’s-era classic cars on display, K-9 demonstrations by local law enforcement and a booth that included the actual wooden gun used by John Dillinger in his Crown Point jail escape.
“This was our 3rd Annual Public Enemy 5K,” said Tim Fealy, President of Hometown Happenings. “We had over 300 runners and walkers come out this year so the turnout has been great and we’re so excited to see so many people, some wearing fantastic costumes, come and support us and all the sponsors here today. There are a lot of great organizations here making this possible so we like to support them and we really want them to know how important they are to us.”
“A portion of the money we raise today will go to one of three local organizations,” Fealy continued. “The Crown Point Police K-9 Unit, the Northwest Indiana Regional SWAT Team, and the Lake County Animal Shelter will be the recipiets of donations from the funds we generate from today’s race.”
Setting the pace out ahead of the runners for this years race was a 1933 Essex Terraplane owned by Crown Point native, Roger Pace of RE/MAX Pace Realty. Pace’s Essex, as well as other classic cars in the antique car show featured at the race, were used during the filming of the 2009 Johnny Depp film, ‘Public Enemies’ about John Dillinger and his wave of crime in the 1930’s.
“This Essex Terraplane is one of only fifty of these cars remaining,” Pace said.
Participating in this year's race was Barb Hamner, with the Calumet Region Striders and Chairman of the Gold Cup and Sponsored Races. The Striders are a group of people joined together by common interest in running. The Gold Cup is a collection of races, ranging from one mile races to marathons, that take place in Lake and Porter Counties from March to November every year. This year's Public Enemy 5K is a part of the Gold Cup series promoted by the Calumet Striders.
“We started out as a group of runners who decided to form a club and we’ve grown to an organization of over 500 runners currently. We have more than 30 races every year and if a member completes 10 of them between March and November they will get an award at our banquet at the end of the year. This is something anyone can accomplish. It’s a competition but you don’t need to be competitive. It’s fun and we really just want people to participate.”
The male winner of this years 5K was Ralph Nurse with a time of 17:28. 14 year old Jordyn Boyer led all females with a time of 21:35. First, second and third place winners in various age groups all received a unique plaque that included a piece of brick from the old jail in which John Dillinger had escaped from some 80 years ago.
To find out more about Hometown Happenings, go to: http://www.yourhometownevents.com/