HOPE – The 45+ year old tradition of the Watermelon 5k Race, sponsored locally by the Melonvine Striders, commenced once again on Saturday, August 8th at the Hope Watermelon Festival. The race drew a huge crowd to watch over 640 runners compete for the title, with racers and onlookers traveling from a multi-state area to attend. A nice cloud covered the skies that morning to cool down the scorching summer day. After a tense 16 minutes and 6 seconds, the first runner crossed the finish line, being 18-year-old Garrett Barr, from Mountain Home, Arkansas. He is a soon to be freshman at the University of Central Arkansas.
After the race, we interviewed Garrett, about his race in Hope, “It was a great course! It’s super flat and very quick. The heat was definitely the worst part, especially with the humidity”.
We then turned to the spokesperson of the Melonvine Striders, Don Still, to learn about the race, “The number of runners we had this year has been the best in six or seven years. It is an amazing race with a lot of history. The 5k has been a part of our Watermelon Festival since about 1980 and has even had the likes of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee as participants”.
Now that it’s over, we look forward to next year for another wonderful race!
Pictured: Watermelon 5k Winner Garrett Barr
Pictured: Watermelon man with tight competition Photos by Davis Johnson