Gasparilla Half Marathon numbers a pleasant surprise

With the half marathon a first-year standalone event, Gasparilla race director Susan Harmeling wasn't sure how many runners would sign up for the event. But with the demise of the full marathon and the focus on the 13.1-mile event, Harmeling was "pleasantly surprised" to see approximately 6,400 runners and walkers register for the race.

It not only was the largest field Gasparilla has seen in the 10 years it's been staging half marathons - by nearly 2,000 - but it also came on the same day as Disney's Princess Half Marathon in Orlando, which attracted 17,000 registrants.

"We really had no idea what to expect because when we did away with the marathon on Sunday and added the 8k along with the half marathon, it was almost like starting over," Harmeling said. "I'm very pleasantly surprised we had that size of a field, especially considering it came on the same day as another major half marathon not very far away."

The half marathon at Disney is one of the largest women-specific running events in the country. But statistics in recent years show a strong growth surge in the half marathon event.

For the weekend, Gasparilla attracted more than 25,000 entries - 12,000 for Saturday's 5k (a record), 5,000 for the 15k, 6,400 for the half marathon and 2,200 in Sunday's other event, the 8k.

Even in the 8k (an event Gasparilla officials dubbed the 5+3k), Harmeling said she was "very happy" with the first-year turnout.

Nothing serious

While Saturday's 15k had the dramatic scene of a runner collapsing with cardiac arrest and later being revived, Harmeling said Sunday's racing resulted in no major health issues.

Apart from cases of dehydration and heat exhaustion, Harmeling said Sunday was a relatively calm day.

Like Saturday, Sunday's half marathon and 8k courses were manned by several teams of paramedics from Tampa Fire Rescue, as well as staff from Tampa General Hospital at the finish line.

Odds and ends

Expect to see the same starting lines for the 2012 Gasparilla race weekend, which is set for March 3-4. This year's races saw new starting lines on Bayshore Boulevard, close to the bridges leading to Davis Islands. That long straightaway for the starts seemed to work well, particularly for the 5k, where it took 8 minutes, 38 seconds for the last runner to clear the starting line once the starter's horn sounded. ... As the 5k continues to grow in entries, Harmeling had said before she might consider setting a limit on the number of starters to keep the course safe. Now, with a record field of 6,400 half marathon entries, she said she is considering setting a limit on that race. She says the reason stems from the loop the race takes for its first 5 miles on Davis Islands. She says that part of the course can only handle a limited number of runners. .... There was a small glitch late in the half marathon that caused something of a traffic problem. Race leaders like Elias Gonzalez found himself having to weave through the back-of-the-pack walkers/joggers who were just coming off the Davis Islands bridge on to Bayshore Boulevard. To remedy that issue, race officials said they can run the course counter-clockwise, with runners heading south on usual northbound lanes of Bayshore and returning to the finish on the usual southbound lanes.