Colour Run
The US’s latest craze, The Color Run, reaches St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida.
St. Petersburg in Florida is preparing for a festival of colour to hit the area when The Color Run rolls into town tomorrow.
Dubbed as the happiest 5km on the planet, the fun run (with the emphasis firmly on fun) is not a competition and the event is not timed, so participants can pound the streets of downtown St. Pete in any way they choose - be it running, walking, skipping or dancing to the music along the route.
The only rules are that Color Runners must wear white shirts at the start line and be completely covered in colour at the finish.
St. Pete will be the final host of the fun run’s 2012 tour, which has swept through more than fifty US cities since it started in January. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in the event up and down the country this year and St. Pete is sure to end the tour’s first year in vibrant style.
The unique event follows St. Pete’s scenic beachfront past some of the area’s biggest attractions and is open to all ages and abilities.
Each kilometre of the run has a designated colour, so as participants enter the colour zones, they will be blitzed by volunteers at the side lines.
Marking the first kilometre, close to St. Pete’s Museum of Fine Arts, white t-shirts will be doused with the first splashes of pink. Just past the iconic building of the new Salvador Dali Museum, runners will enter the blue zone and by the time they reach the stunning Chihuly Collection on Beach Drive, yellow will have been added to their canvas.
Once runners complete the course, the fun and festivities continue with the Finish Festival, featuring music, dancing and a family-friendly party atmosphere, which will culminate in a mass throw of colour packets to create a cloud of rainbow colours.
The color is a powder made up of cornstarch mixed with food colouring and is 100 per cent natural and safe. The organisers even provide air blown cleaning stations at the end of the party to remove most of the colour before the ride home.
Boasting white sand beaches, year-round sunshine, colourful communities and a vibrant cultural scene, the Sunshine State is the ideal setting to end the Color Run’s fantastically successful first year. The residents are keen to make the post-5km party the best yet and really showcase all that St. Pete, and neighbouring Clearwater, has to offer.
The Color Run St. Petersburg starts at 09.00 at Vinoy Park and is raising funds for JDRF, for research on type 1 diabetes, and St. Anthony’s Hospital in Pinella’s County.
For more information, please visit www.thecolorrun.com/stpete/. For more information on St. Pete/Clearwater visit www.visitstpeteclearwater.com.
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