DC Front Runners Pride Run 5K

Inaugural Race Recap

 

by Brian Beary

 

 

DC Front Runners held a Pride 5K Run & Walk at Historic Congressional Cemetery on the evening of June 7, 2013.

 

Since it was established in 1981, the club has had various forays into organizing Pride runs but this was its largest-scale and most ambitious venture to date. We chose as our venue the Congressional Cemetery in southeast Washington DC, next to RFK stadium, because of the special place it holds for the gay rights movement. One of the leading gay rights campaigners, Leonard Matlovich, who graced the cover of Time Magazine in 1975 after outing himself as a gay soldier, was buried there in 1988. This sowed the seeds for the emergence of a ‘gay corner’, where prominent gay activists purchased plots to keep Matlovich company.

 

The week of the race was quite the rollercoaster. On the up side, we sold out the race to its 750-person capacity three days prior to race day. On the down side, tropical rainstorm Andrea paid us an unexpected and unwelcome visit, shooting up the coast from Florida at breakneck speed. But despite fears of a wash-out, the rain abated a little and the evening turned out to be a huge success, muddy puddles aside!

 

The race program included introductory comments from Pride Run Director Jerry Langan and the Cemetery’s President, Paul Williams, while Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s soloist Matt Beck provided us with a soaring, flawless rendition of the National Anthem. Kicking off Capital Pride Weekend, our four guest Drag Queens, Patti Lovelace, Destiny B. Child, Monet Dupree and Ophelia Bottoms gave us a suitably gay glitter gun race start. It was a highly-competitive contest at the front of the pack, with eight runners crossing the finish line in under 18 minutes. Justin Arnold came first place overall among males, with 17 minutes and 6 seconds. The top female was Elyse Braner in a time of 20 minutes and 11 seconds.

 

The post-race finish festival was led by DJ Edward Daniels of Scorpio Entertainment, who provided running commentary at the finish line and presented the race awards. Star performances including a rollicking rendition of the aptly-selected ‘It’s Raining Men’ by our Drag Queen Quartet, while the DC Front Runners’ Pride Parade Dance Troupe debuted their creatively choreographed, superhero-themed ‘People Like Us’ by Kelly Clarkson. Festival revellers enjoyed complimentary watermelon, mini-pretzels, and beer. As the light slowly – and somewhat eerily - faded in the cemetery, the crowd made their merry way into the night.

 

We wish to thank our sponsors for helping to make this possible: Marriott Hotels, Bodysmith gym, AIDS Walk Washington, Alexander & Associates, Booz Allen Hamilton, District Alliance for Safe Housing and Ultimo Lounge. Special thanks to our partners: Pacers Events, Congressional Cemetery, JR’s Bar & Lounge, Capital Pride, Scorpio Entertainment and Team DC. Proceeds from the race will be donated to Team DC’s gay athlete scholarship fund. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience and look forward to throwing an even more fabulous soiree in 2014. Stay tuned!