As the clock ticks down toward the starting gun, organizers of the 4th annual Merrickville Heritage Classic are busy adding final touches to the event.

One of the newest tweaks to the run is the addition of runner’s tee shirts. The tee shirts for the runners are a blue coloured, technical shirt bearing the Run Merrickville logo. Race Director Lori Reynolds said these tee shirts are included as part of the registration fee for the 5 and 10 km runners but they need to register by 06 April to ensure their shirts arrive for race day.

She added that tee shirts are available and can be ordered separately by participants in the 2 km event but they are not included in the registration fee.

Volunteer coordinator Sally MacInnis continues to seek volunteers for Race Day. She said Run Merrickville has an amazing volunteer base, but there are always new tasks popping up that need attention and added “volunteers have made this Race what it is through their dedication and enthusiasm.”

MacInnis said volunteers are issued with a “crew” tee shirt to wear during the event. This identifies them as part of the Run team and they get to keep the shirt as a small token of appreciation for their efforts.

Once again the Alloy Foundry is producing the participant and the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners medals in Merrickville. Foundry owner, Karl Feige said he is honoured to be producing the medals for this event. Each year the medals have been slightly different, making them a kind of collector’s item, and that trend continues this year. He said “this year the back of the medal is recessed with the Roman numeral IV with the year 2019 below that. “

He added, “We were also excited to hear that a runner from Ireland participated in last years run as a Virtual Runner and now has one of our medals.”

As has happened in previous years committee members will be going door to door along the race route advising residents of the road closures and amended traffic patterns for the duration of the race.

Reynolds said the committee attempts to keep traffic disruptions to a minimum. She said the process for opening roads is the same as previous years.

She described the process by saying, “All three runs, (the 10 km, 5km and 2 km) start and end at the Community Centre at the intersection of Read St. and Main St. Two volunteers will follow the runners through the 2k, and 5 & 10K routes. When the volunteer pacers pass by road closures, barricades will be taken down and streets opened to traffic again. Within the heart of the Village, they anticipate the road access being diminished for a short time only (40-60 minutes.)”

She expects that between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. streets along the running routes will be closed. By 9 a. m. or earlier streets will begin to be opened to traffic. St. Lawrence should be completely open by 9 a.m. with OPP controlling traffic flow at Harry McLean Rd. and County Roads 15 and 16 and County Road 16 at Read St. (for the 5 and 10 KM runners).