Runners can now register for the second annual Andy Payne Route 66 Race, the kickoff to Claremore’s celebration of the Mother Road’s centennial.
Claremore and Foyil, the hometown of the man after whom the race is named, will host the event April 11. The Claremore Museum of History and Cherokee Nation introduced the Route 66 Race last year to pay tribute to Andy Payne, a Cherokee man who won a 3,423-mile transcontinental footrace in 1928.
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About 190 runners raced in last year’s inaugural 5K. Husband and wife Jackson and Brianna Stinnett took home the gold and silver with their finishes of 16:19 and 18:33, respectively.
Steve Robinson, president of the history museum’s board of directors, said a 13.1-mile half marathon will join the 5K and one-mile fun run on this year’s schedule. The starting gun will fire at 8:30 a.m. at Andy Payne’s statue in Foyil.
«Andy Payne won the Bunion Derby in 1928, and so our goal is by 2028, the centennial of the Bunion Derby, for the race to be a fully certified, accredited marathon,» Robinson said. «We want the race to become a 26-mile big event for the whole entire state of Oklahoma that runs down Route 66.»
The half marathon course will take racers south to Claremore via State Highway 66, which was Route 66 until its 1985 decommissioning. After seven miles, runners will turn onto Sioux Avenue, follow a loop to the shore of Claremore Lake and finish at the statue of Payne at the Claremore Museum of History.
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The 5K race, which began last year at Claremore High School, will take off at 9 a.m. at Claremore Lake and also finish at Payne’s statue. The fun run, scheduled for the same time, will remain at the high school’s Andy Payne Track.
«Besides promoting the centennial of Route 66, we’re also trying to tell the story of Andy Payne,» Robinson said. «It’s really all about his legacy, and what he accomplished, and the fact that he is a Cherokee citizen. Having all the races culminate at his statue here at the museum was a big part of our initiative.»
Payne’s Claremore statue stands in Gazebo Park, adjacent to the museum, but Robinson said it will move across the street before the race. Payne’s statue will be the first occupant of the Legacy Gardens the museum is building with a state Route 66 revitalization grant.
The museum started working on the gardens late last year; it has laid a cobblestone path, erected a pavilion, installed a small fountain and rigged up gas lighting. Robinson said the new park, which replaces a pair of tennis courts, is essentially complete.
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All that remains are the garden’s main features: bronze statues of Claremore legends. Robinson said on race day, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell and Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, will dedicate the gardens and welcome the first few statues.
«Andy Payne will move over to one of the columns,» Robinson said. «We currently have Lynn Riggs and Patti Page at the foundry, and they’ll be here by April 11. The sculptor is currently working on Stuart Roosa, and then after Stuart Roosa, he’ll begin Helen Walton.»
Robinson said people may sign up until the day of the race online at runsignup.com or on the museum’s website. Racers must register by March 15 if they want a commemorative T-shirt and swag bag. Registration costs $100 for the half marathon and $35 for the 5K, fun run and virtual race.
He said the museum will need plenty of volunteers to man water stations, direct traffic and more. It is also seeking sponsors and offering packages that range from $250 to $15,000. The museum posted a packet on its website for prospective sponsors.
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Robinson said he hopes Claremore will come out to see the spectacle of runners tracing Route 66 on its 100th birthday.
«With about four miles we’ll be running on Claremore Lake Trail and Blue Starr and through our town, we hope people sit out on the porch and cheer people on and make it a real friendly event for all of the visitors to Claremore that day,» Robinson said.
