Crazylegs Classic Attracts 12,222 Participants
April 28, 2004 | General News
A record 12,222 runners and walkers participated in the 2004 Crazylegs Classic last Saturday. Almost 8,000 runners and over 4,200 walkers enjoyed a cool but sunny day in the Capital city.
The 2004 event was the first held without its namesake Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch in attendance. Hirsch, the former UW football player and athletic director, passed away in January at the age of 80.
'Elroy's passing certainly gave us some early press about the run because it was one of his favorite events and in his passing there was a lot written about the Crazylegs run,' said Terry Murawski, Executive Director of the National W Club. 'We think that this may have increased attention towards the run. '
Hirsch's widow, Ruth, as well as the rest of his family was present at the event. All of the participants received a commemorative t-shirt, which featured Hirsch's UW football number 40 and his signature.
The event attracted athletes from 35 states including Alaska, California, Florida, Maine as well as Canada. Over 52 percent of the participants were women. Another big increase was in Fun & Fitness teams with 132 groups joining together in support of the Badgers, an increase of 57 percent from 2003.
Molly McClimon Watcke, the daughter of former UW men's track and cross country coach Dan McClimon, won the women's eight-kilometer race in 28 minutes, 25 seconds. McClimon Watcke is a former All-American at the University of Michigan.
Max Harn, a former NCAA Division III national champion at UW-Oshkosh, won the men's race in 24:56. Teddy O'Reilly, a redshirt freshman on the Wisconsin track team, finished second in 25:08 while Colin Steele, a UW junior, finished fourth in 25:12.
Runner's World magazine has ranked the Crazylegs Classic among the best 100 events in the nation while readers of Madison newspapers have voted it the No. 1 local running event every year since 1995.
