More than 200 people chased Charlie Cardinal around Ball State'scampus Saturday morning during the fourth annual SportsAdministration Club's Chase Charlie 5K run, walk and roll.
Club members weren't sure the race would happen because ofstorms were in the forecast with the presence of strong winds.
"We were worried the weather wasn't going to be good," BretHammond, a club member, said. "As long as it wasn'tthunderstorming, the race must go on."
The 5 kilometer, 3.1 mile, marathon attracted three times asmany participants this year than last year.
"This event has grown tremendously," Gina Pauline, facultyadvisor for the Sports Administration Club, said. "Last year weonly had 73 people [participate] and this year we have close to230."
Club members did more marketing this year than they have in thepast, Pauline said. Members went to Homecoming events, set uptables in the Atrium a few times and sent out campus-wide e-mailsas well, she said.
There were a lot of runners who participated in the event lastyear but the biggest participant increase was Ball State students,Pauline said.
"We want to get a lot of fraternities involved too but it's on aSaturday morning and most college students aren't willing to get upafter Friday night," Hammond said.
The runners raced under one of nine age groups which were thendivided into male and female. Each age group had a first, secondand third place winner for male and a first, second and third placewinner for female. The minimum age requirement was 8 years old andthe maximum was 68 years old.
Ball State student Dustin Smith was the overall marathon winnerfor the second year in a row, but he wasn't sure he could take homethe victory this year because of an injury.
"I turned my ankle two weeks ago running down the sidewalk. [Themarathon] was my fourth day back," Smith said. "I was a littleworried because the past couple days I wasn't feeling so good."Smith has been running since he was in high school and tries to runevery day.
Nine-year-old Ashia Doersam took second place for the 8-to-12-year-old girls. Her grandfather, Jack Whitlow, and Whitlow'sfriend, Ole Bohn, ran the 3.1 miles with her.
"It was a good crowd and a nice day," Bohn said. "If they coulddo something about the wind next year, that would be great."
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