Muncie Multi-Sport Press Release
For Immediate press release:
Muncie Multi-Sport, Inc.
400 East Jackson
Muncie, In. 47305
Steven Tomboni, CEO
Date line: Oct. 29th, 2011
Event results can be viewed at: Muncie Mini Marathon Results 10/29.
For Muncie Multi-Sport, there will be many stories to come out of the return of the Muncie Mini Marathon, but none more important than with the title sponsorship, and leadership of IU Health/BMH.
We would like to take a moment to thank the hospital team for returning our community to its roots. There has been a marathon, or half marathon, in Muncie, on or off, for many years. The leadership, funding, and staff assistance by IU Health BMH Hospital was outstanding in 2011. Truly, this weekend was made possible by the entire team we worked with over the last eleven months.
Since we had over 600 run/walk participants on Saturday, Oct. 29th, of which 80% are from Delaware County, this was one of the largest participated events for local residents in a very long time. We can all be proud of the host of distances everyone has chosen: the 1-mile, 5k, 10k, and 13.1 miles had full fields. The inspiration, perspiration, and determination, were on high display at the finish line.
The large pool of volunteers, our volunteer race team, security staff, participants, and spectators all owe the hospital a long round of applause.
As a testament, here is a summary of the numbers: over 600 athletes; 200 volunteers; 25 race team captains; 5 security agencies; nearly 200 first time participants; the youngest was 8, and the oldest 73; 10 states and 80 cities; 450 from Delaware county alone; and the 2nd largest competitive event in 2011.
We had a 6.8 mile course in the heart of Muncie, 4,200 cups of water, 35 cross streets, 600 banana halves, 960 Concannons donut holes, 4 trucks full of equipment, and one really tired race team at 5pm Saturday!
For the race team, one of the best moments, aside from all the wonderful smiles and tears at the finish line, was the arrival of our friend, Jimmy Leffler. Truly a legend in all of our hearts, Jimmy is easily one of the greatest athletes in our communities history, and without question, his battle with cancer over the past two years has affected all of us in the racing community. We all see him as a great friend, serious competitor, role model, and the person we sought advice from for decades.
When he retired from Chevy around age 56, we all joked that when we grew up, we wanted to be like Jimmy. Once he retired, he trained three times a day, ate, slept, played with his kids and grand kids, rode his bike with Sue, and coached. We still want to be like Jimmy, even during his struggles. We have learned to be much more accepting of our fate due to the role modeling by Jimmy. He’s made us tougher, yet more caring, more giving, and just plain better people. That is how we all see Jimmy Leffler.
Jimmy, you are the man – thanks for coming out to watch the return of the sport you love.
Running in Muncie is back!
Steven N. Tomboni, CEO
Muncie Multi-Sport, Inc.
IU Health/BMH Muncie Mini-Marathon
765-215-6582
www.munciemultisport.com
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5 Responses to Muncie Multi-Sport Press Release
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I commend all the volunteers who put on such a quality event, but it was real disappointing whoever made the poor choice of giving a magnet as a finishers award at the end. I have ran 40 Half Marathons in the last 17 months and this is officially the worst medal (albeit not even a medal) I have ever received. It was clearly stated on the Muncie Multi Sport website that the benefits of registering for this race is “Great race t-shirt, finisher medal, chip timing for instant & accurate results.. etc”. The race shirt was cotton and there was no finishers medal at all. I know you can say that it is only a medal, but it is my decision to run a race to receive the medal. I usually choose not to run if there is not one. It is a lot of money to spend on races and when I run, I like leaving the run (and the city) with something tangible for my achievement. If the medal is nice, I keep it. If not, I donate it to some great charities who love receiving race medals. What am I to do with a magnet? My congrats to all who finished and in no way do I intend to spoil your achievements. It was a good race, but the decision to give out a magnet after publicizing the benefits of the race, was a poor choice. Someone may have thought that were making an improvement but they need to know they missed the mark.
We appreciate your sharing on the site, and have already conveyed your message to the owner. I am sure they’ll take your feedback and make the awards even better for next year.
I agree. It said medal and none was awarded to the general finishers. I overheard several who were upset by this. I too was disappointed. I do not care about making better awards for next years race. I would like to get my moneys worth now, for this race. Please make it up to those who feel cheated. Price was too high for what we got out of it.
Thanks for your comment. If you have a complaint, feel free to contact the event organizer, and share your feelings. They can be reached at http://www.munciemultisport.com.
thank you for your reply. The CEO does not care to hear about our complaint of no medal as he has posted on The Star Press comments to the article that we are focusing on the wrong thing. Thank you though for allowing us to comment and express our feelings without judement.