Students encouraged to attend 2012 Little Fifty callout meeting

The Runners’ Council of the 2012 Little Fifty race, the event set to kick off this year’s week of Little 500 festivities, will have a callout meeting Thursday for those interested in participating in the 10th anniversary of the inaugural Little Fifty.

At the meeting, which will begin at 8:30 p.m. in Kelley Business School 223, the council will discuss qualifications, the team registration process and deadlines, runner eligibility and a new blog at littlefiftyblog.blogspot.com set up to help fellow runners communicate about training plans and running routes.

This year’s meeting and race will center around one big change: the move of the race from the normal spot of Thursday night to the Sunday before Little 500 week.

Junior Jarrett Smith, a veteran Little Fifty racer and now a member of the Little Fifty Runners’ Council, said the change was made to avoid the other festivities of the week and with the hope of boosting attendance.

“We’re trying to get as big a turnout as possible, and we thought it would be great to kick off the Little 500 week with this race and set the tone,” Smith said. “We didn’t want to compete with different concerts and other events going on that week, and we’re hoping this Sunday-night time will allow for as much participation as possible, both by the athletes and the fans.”

Smith, who ran both track and cross country in high school, encouraged past competitors and prospective racers to come to the meeting in hopes they will find the type of camaraderie Smith found last year while training for the race.

“It was just another avenue where I found I could get involved in the week,” Smith said. “I missed the team atmosphere and that aspect of organized sports, and this has allowed me to train with the team while competing against other teams and kind of get some of that camaraderie and structure back that I loved with sports.”