6th Annual One Mile Bang – Sunday, June 26, 2016 – “A Family Affair”
On a bright sunny Sunday morning, Aug. 26, 2016, the 6th Annual One Mile Bang Foot Race took place. As runners gathered for the start of the race, Pastor Sharon Vaughn of City Team gave a nice speech talking about what City Team does for the community, then gave a special prayer and blessing for all the participants. Next up was the singing of the National Anthem by my one and only brother, Mike Bang. He suggested adding a new touch this year, putting up a brand new blazing American Flag at the starting line. With our Nation’s Birthday only 8 days away, it was quite fitting and moving.
The One Mile Bang is still small, but growing, so it has the feel of a small family run. This year, I was lucky enough to not only have my brother visiting and running the race with me, but also one of my sisters, and my daughter to boot. We all ran the race together, and that was very special. But, all my friends who showed up to help or run in the race are like family to me. Good friends that go way back, but also newer friends like Pastor Sharon, whom I met through putting this event together for the first time in 2010.
The weather was ripe for fast times, warm, but not hot, and very little wind. That proved to be the case for the Men’s overall winner, Will Drinkwater, who broke the tape in 4:26.6, only 8 seconds off the course record. The overall Female winner was Sherry Lee, who ran a very fast time of 5:50.9. I believe we had the oldest and youngest participants this year that we have ever had. The oldest was Bill Dodson, coming in at a spritely 81 years of age. He set the standard for the new 80-89 course record of 7:45.2. Amazingly fast for Bill, even though his specialty is doing races about 50 times longer, he being more of an ultra-marathoner. Still, very inspiring to see him out there running at such a high level at his age. Way to go, Bill!
On the flip side, the youngest runner we’ve ever had, 5-years old, was my very own daughter, Paloma. While stopping to walk a few times, she made it the entire way, and even had a nice little sprint the last 50 meters, finishing at 14:29.7. I see a bright future ahead for her, and I was the proudest Dad I could possibly be!
Always trying to be a bit different and creative with awards, the most interesting prize we had this year was a Los Gatos “cat” – the same one you might see around town in stone – donated to the race by Green Thumb Nursery. It was taken home by Eric Pors, who won the Men’s 13-18 age group with a time of 6:09.5. Another fun prize was a gift certificate to local florist Rosies and Posies, won by Siena Parsons, who took first in the Women’s 13-18 age group, with a time of 6:55.4.
What made things even more special this year was how much we raised for City Team; over $600, the most ever in our 6 years of putting on this charity event. So, that was very exciting, and truly gets to the heart of the matter. Good family fun, while assisting a great cause to help the homeless and those struggling with addictions in our community. Thanks again to everyone who ran and all those who helped put on the race this year. We hope to have you all back next year, and maybe even bring along a friend or two! Cheers and happy running!
-Scott Bang