Thousands ring in the Fourth of July with 47th annual Bluegrass 10,000 and Fun Run
Thousands gathered on Tuesday morning at the intersection of North Limestone and Main Street in downtown Lexington for the 47th annual Bluegrass 10,000 and Fun Run. The Fourth of July staple once again brought the community together to kick off a full day of events in celebration of the holiday put on by Lexington Parks & Recreation.
“We have the best parks people in the world!” Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said after the race began.
This year’s 10K saw an uptick in participation in recent years, with a total of 2,193 registrants. The Fun Run, a mile-long race geared towards kids and families, drew 294 registrants. Per Lexington Parks & Recreation special events manager Jessica Piersol, these are the highest numbers since the pandemic.
The work to prepare for the annual event begins immediately after each edition ends, and it spans an entire year.
“To work the Fourth of July, it sounds like it’s not going to be any fun …,” Piersol said. “But it is so much fun. And it means so much to us, everybody here at Parks. That is why we do what we do. We do it for the community. And for us to have the honor to kick off the Fourth of July festivities, we’re just all about it. We’re all in 100% and so happy to do so for the community.”
The overall winners of the Bluegrass 10,000 receive a medal commemorating the achievement and a check for $500.
Antonio Marchi finished first overall with a personal record on-road time of 30:47.4. Marchi has run in several Bluegrass 10,000s since 2002. In addition to finishing first this year, Marchi won in 2013, 2014 and 2016, as well as recorded the best time in the virtual race in 2020. He was second in last year’s race.
Marchi, an Argentina native who also won the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon the past two years, said that the Bluegrass 10,000 is his favorite race.
“It’s phenomenal,” Marchi said. “I mean, I love it.”
Marchi, now a medical interpreter, ran for Berea College and graduated in 2010. He ran a 10K in 38:20 on Monday in preparation for the 47th annual race and ran just over three miles to get to the race itself on Tuesday morning.
For many, the most difficult part of the race arrives after the second mile marker, when runners first tackle elevation on the course. Marchi said he focuses on his technique to push through when things get challenging.
“Keep on pumping your arms,” Marchi said. “Just keep your stride long. Breathe. There are many things to think about (when you’re in the final stretch). But I just focus on my form, my technique. And I remember what it should feel like when I did my training. It wasn’t that I was running at that pace the entire time, but on the roads I gotta focus on how it felt like. If I don’t feel pain, I’m not running fast enough, you know? If I’m not breathing hard, I’m not running fast enough.”
Bowling Green State University cross country and track and field senior and West Liberty native Kailee Perry was the overall female winner with a time of 37:01.6. This year marked Perry’s third time running the Bluegrass 10,000, and her first time since she was a senior at Morgan County High School.
“I’ve always wanted to come back and do it,” Perry said.
Perry, who took the spring season off with the Falcons due to anemia issues, saw the Bluegrass 10,000 as a good opportunity to return to form.
“I’m kind of on the comeback,” Perry said. “And just used this as a way to kind of build some confidence going into the season. … I woke up at four this morning. So, a little tired, a little sleepy. Warming up I wasn’t feeling it, and I … was gonna see what my legs had.”
Perry finished 15th overall and first among 893 female finishers. Like Marchi, the hills posed a challenge for Perry.
“I feel really good,” she said. “Miles three, four and five got a little hard, as it was a little uphill and stuff like that. But I mean, right now I’m happy. Like I said, a big confidence-booster and I’m satisfied overall.”
David Hartsek was the overall winner in the men’s crank wheelchair category for the third year in a row, posting a 27:26. This is his 39th consecutive Bluegrass 10,000, and he’s already looking forward to his 40th next year. Getting ready for a 10K can be daunting, but, for a regular like Hartsek, the preparation remains the same.
“You’ve got to put in the miles, put in the work,” Hartsek said. “Weight training, road training and all that … Gotta watch your diet and get here on time.”
Hartsek, like his fellow overall winners, named the second-mile hills as the most difficult portion of the race.
“My slowest part was from mile two to three,” Hartsek said. “It’s kind of like an up climb. You don’t really see it, but it is. And when you’ve got the hand-crank going, you can feel it a lot more. But once I passed (the difficult stretch), I mean it was 20 miles an hour all the way back to the finish line.”
Hartsek made his way to Lexington from Meade County when he was 17 years old, and soon after found his way to road racing. The Bluegrass 10,000 has remained a staple of his summers.
“It wouldn’t be the Fourth without it,” Hartsek said. “It’s always something I’m always inspired to do. Back in my younger days and stuff, I was playing basketball in the winter and didn’t have nothing to do in the summer, so I took up road racing. I had a push chair for 20 years, and I had some surgery that knocked me out getting in that position. So I got a hand cycle and started using it, and been using it since ‘02. It was a good investment, it keeps me going.”
Since the inaugural running of the Bluegrass 10,000 in 1976, course records have been set and broken over and over again. From the men’s overall record set in 1983 by Marcus Nenow, to the men’s crank wheelchair record of 18:45 set in 2013 by Greg Queen, to the women’s overall record of 33:33 set by Katy Kunc in 2021, this race has plenty of history.
Bluegrass 10,000 course records:
Men: Marcus Nenow, 29:14 (1983).
Women: Katy Kunc, 33:33 (2021).
Men’s crank wheelchair: Greg Queen, 18:45 (2014).
Women’s crank wheelchair: Carley Pearson, 25:44 (2014).
Men’s push wheelchair: Paul Dietrich, 24:19 (1996).
Women’s push wheelchair: Aerelle Jones, 32:09 (2018).
Lifelong runner Terry Foody, who first ran the Bluegrass 10,000 in the late 1970s and has run it many times since, said she loves it.
“Back in the early days,” Foody said, “when I was running under an hour, I would be way down. And if I was getting in the top 15, I was like ,‘Ah! God.’ And I knew all their names. And every year I’d watch them. And then, gradually, as we got older I started moving up. They stopped running. And I kept going.”
Foody finished this year’s race with a final time of 1:15:54.4.
The Herald-Leader has also covered — and sometimes had staff members who ran in — the Bluegrass 10,000 over the years. Last year, sports reporter Cameron Drummond even wrote a firsthand account of what it was like to run in the Bluegrass 10,000.
This year, breaking news reporter Chris Leach (40:31.8), breaking news editor Jeremy Chisenhall (50:10) and photographer Silas Walker (54:21) all successfully finished within 55 minutes.
This story was originally published July 4, 2023 at 11:03 AM.
