American athletes could push the elite Kenyan’s in Saturday’s Crim race – ABC 12 News

FLINT TOWNSHIP With the Crim Festival of Races less than two days away — runners are getting in the zone.

And that zone could mean some very fast times, as race conditions will be perfect for burning up the course.

Also, the founder of the Crim will be back on the big course after a year off from the 10 mile event.

Bobby Crim announced he would once again run the main race, his 34th, much to the delight of those attending Thursday morning’s press conference.

Crim talked about how the Crim has survived, despite the loss of major manufacturing jobs over the decades.

Race founder Bobby Crim said, “The community reached out and embraced the Crim. This is ours. And if anything is ever a community thing, the Crim is a community race, belongs to this community, and they’ve made it a success.”

For 43 years, the Crim has been an August tradition for Flint, drawing local, state, national and even racers from across the globe.

Two elite runners were also introduced.

One, a 3 time olympian, Dathan Ritzenhein, who won the 2016 Crim.

“It really just has a special feel. You get out there. You get the Bradley Hills. You get the crowds. You get the bricks. It just has something special, It’s a nostalgic factor, but also has this deep community engagement which makes it just an incredible event.”

The other is a 25k record holder who is looking forward to his first Crim.

“Yeah, I’ve just heard about it for a very long time, and I always wanted to be a part of it. But, like I said, I had a great race in Michigan, broke the American record for 25k a few months ago. And so, I wanted to come back here and saw just this opportunity to be a part of the Crim,” said Parker Stinson, a long distance record holder.

Stinson also said that with perfect running weather Saturday morning — he’ll be able to test his limits.