Jackson Day Race: 9K in New Orleans

Sunday was the 104^th (!) running of the Jackson Day Race, so named because it commemorates the route taken in December, 1814 by battalions guarding Fort St. John (the Old Spanish Fort) in the northern part of New Orleans when they were called by General Andrew Jackson to march to the Place de Armes (now called Jackson Square, in the French Quarter) to prepare for the Battle of New Orleans.  Five hundred and fifty runners took to the same streets 196 years later.

This race is old, so old that the starter was the grandson (with great-grandchildren in tow) of the first winner.  It is so old that the names of some of the winners are listed as “unknown.”  It is so old that the course record is from 1981.  The organizers are proud that this is the (self-proclaimed, I didn’t check it out) 5^th-oldest race in the U.S., and the oldest race in the South, however that is defined.  The first race was organized by the local YMCA to honor the 92^nd anniversary of the battle, which took place January 8^th, 1815.  According to the New Orleans Picayune, cited on the website of the race administrator New Orleans Track Club (NOTC), the race used the “Lafitte Course,” Jean Lafitte being the commander of some of the men who marched to Jackson’s assistance.  That first race had 31 entrants, most of whom had never run any sort of distance, and who were taken to the start line in a caravan of ten of those new-fangled contraptions called automobiles, and who were started in two waves by a pistol shot.  Post-race, the runners were treated at the YMCA to a banquet and “jollification meeting.”

This is a 9K, or 5.6-mile, race.  In case any future searchers have the same questions I did:

• There is a bag check.  Bring your own bag, and pick it up at the Natchez Dock after the race.

• This is a point-to-point race starting at the Old Spanish Fort.  You will ride a yellow school bus to the start unless you can park at the start.  Buses run back to the start at the end of the race.

• There is no shelter at the start.  Packet pickup consists of getting your bib and pins.  Good luck trying to pin on the bib number if it is as cold as it was on Sunday.

• You can pick up your t-shirt at the end of the race, on the Natchez Dock.

"Warming up" by seeking shelter from the frigid wind in the ruins of the Old Spanish Fort

The weather was unseasonably cold (mid-40s) and extremely windy, although because last year’s 103^rd running of the race was the coldest on record, none of the veterans complained too much.  By the time the race started, many (those first-timers and out-of-towners who didn’t know better) had been waiting in the wind for over an hour, and we were all too ready to run.  The course was pleasant, as any first-time course is.  Some of us were held up by waiting for a streetcar (couldn’t see if it was the Desire line; I suspect it was St. Charles) to cross the course.  Orleans Avenue was torn up for repaving, so watching footing rather than scenery was prudent, and the race couldn’t be re-routed because it would not have been historically accurate.

Scoring system for the race

The male finishers. Gaps are where the age-group winners were.

I had never seen the scoring system, which may not have been idiosyncratic for the NOTC.  Men and women finished in separate chutes next to a clock.  (It wasn’t totally obvious where the finish line was; the banner there, as at the start line, was not put up due to the wind.)  Finishers were handed a sticker.  We walked the couple of blocks from the finish to the dock of the Steamboat Natchez, anchored in the Mississippi River, and then wrote our names, ages and finish times on the stickers and handed them in.  Was this the honor system?  Not quite.  It turns out that the stickers were in groups and were numbered, so you couldn’t fudge your placement.  But if as in my case, the runner immediately in front of you wasn’t in sight, you could “adjust” your time considerably. The stickers were applied to poster boards on a stage of sorts.   No timing chips here.

Post-race refreshments included Hot & Spicy Chee-wees (a sort of fiery local Cheetos), jambalaya, and beer.  There was not much for a health-conscious, beer-avoiding vegetarian to love besides banana parts and water.  It was my first race of the year, and a PR, because it was my first 9K, so although it was not quite a jollification meeting, it was a lot of fun nonetheless.

It took a couple of days to recover from the energy sap of three hours in the cold with inadequate clothing.  Not long after the end of the race, the rain came in horizontally and the palm trees began to hula.  As cold as it was, we had been lucky with the weather.

Post-race revelers engaged in their own “jollification.”

The jambalaya was the only thing warm about this race.

By the way, although the rest of the world has moved on, New Orleans has not recovered from Hurricane Katrina.  The city and its residents still need a lot of help.

_________________________________________

January 14th addendum:  The results have been posted, for men and for women.  I managed to beat “Name Not Legible.”

_________________________________________

Tags: 9K, Jackson Day Race, New Orleans running, New Orleans Track Club, NOTC, running