| Pigeon
Forge, TN – October 2015 / Newsmaker Alert / Everyone who runs
in the RetroRunning event next April in Pigeon
Forge is guaranteed to set a personal record. That’s because it’s the
only race ever that’s exactly 5 miles, 916 yards long.
The peculiar distance and
the fact it’s only for runners age 40 and older create an unusual weekend
April 29-May 1, 2016, at the LeConte
Center at Pigeon Forge.
“The LeConte Event Center
has been the location for sporting events such as gymnastics, cheer and
basketball tournaments, but this is different,” said Leon Downey, executive
director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism. “RetroRunning organizer
Steve Hall is using the race as the hook for a full weekend for the over-40
crowd and making great use of our building.”
Hall, a Knoxville runner
and businessman, says the weekend is designed for entertainment, information
and exercise.
Three keynote speakers will
enhance the traditional runners’ expo:
-
Jeff Galloway, the nation’s
leading running coach and columnist for the world’s top running publication,
Runner’s
World
-
Lee Ellis, a leadership consultant
whose life lessons were tempered by five years as a prisoner of war at
the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War
-
Rudy Maxa, travel journalist,
the voice of National Geographic Traveler’s “Walks of a Lifetime”
podcasts and host of the syndicated travel radio show, “Rudy Maxa’s World”
Workshop topics include investment
and wealth management, elder law and estate planning, long-term care and
identity theft.
Two nights of live entertainment
are included. One is a tribute to the Beach Boys and the Eagles from Woodie
and the Longboards, a band from southern California, and the other is a
show from Top Tier, a six-member group with a repertoire spanning seven
decades.
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The race itself will wind
through Pigeon Forge, along the Parkway with its views of Mt. LeConte in
Great Smoky Mountains National Park and on the Pigeon Forge Greenway.
“A special touch is that
the race will have a ‘Progressional Start,’ a trademarked term meaning
you race against your peers. We will have multiple starts, beginning with
runners age 40-44, then with runners 45-49 and so on,” Hall said.
Charities that will benefit
from the event include Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library; Friends of the
Smokies, which supports Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Second Harvest
Food Bank of East Tennessee; Remote Area Medical, which delivers free medical,
dental and vision care in remote locations; Wears Valley Ranch, a children’s
home; ADFAC, an Appalachian service organization; and Discover Life in
America, a scientific organization that studies the estimated 60,000 to
80,000 species in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
The RetroRunning weekend
will use assembly, concert and seminar/classroom space in the 232,599-square-foot
LeConte Event Center. Runners will assemble on race day by age group in
the building’s largest space, the 100,500-square-foot LeConte Hall. The
facility opened in 2013.
Details of the RetroRunning
event are at GoRetroRunning.com.
Information about the LeConte Event Center and all aspects of visiting
Pigeon Forge is at LeConteCenter.com
and MyPigeonForge.com.
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Contact:
Tom
Adkinson, APR
for Pigeon Forge Department
of Tourism
615-341-8796 |
