Check out highlights from the 2017 Melt the Trail 5k, held at Grand Park sports campus in Westfield.
This event takes place at Grand Park in Westfield and is put on by the City of Westfield Parks & Rec department. Grand Park is a huge sports campus that hosts numerous large events and tournaments throughout the year. The park also features over 10 miles of paved trails that are open to the public.
[This video was created with this gear: GoPro Hero4 (http://amzn.to/2yjX0og) and a stabilizing gimbal (http://amzn.to/2hkJqO3)]
I have run out there a couple times, so I was curious about how an organized 5k would use the space. The course stayed on the east side of the campus weaving in and around 26 baseball diamonds. You can check out the course details in my Strava activity here:
The 10k runners did two loops of the same course. In both races the competition was pretty tough. The 5k winner came in with a time of 18:51, averaging 6:04 per mile. The 10k winner took 36:26 to finish the two loop course with an average per mile pace of 5:52.
While there were some fast folks on hand, not everyone was there to race. Westfield Parks & Rec definitely wants this to be a fun event for the family and runners of all abilities. Runners were invited to hang out in the brand new Events Center where there was free face painting, massages, and a photo booth. After the race, runners could enjoy the standard post-race fare like bananas, water, and cookies. But they also had free hot chocolate and coffee – much appreciated after hanging out in the brisk 17 degree weather.
As always, thanks for checking out my video and check back soon for more!
Cheers,
Chris