In-Person Race Day Details: Check Back for June 8, 2024 Event

Distances

• 5-mile timed & untimed
• 1-mile untimed
• Start/finish: UAA Campus near Cuddy Quad 3400 Seawolf Dr. Anchorage 99508

Event Schedule

• 6:45-8:15 a.m. Bib Pick-Up; Registration for untimed events only; Merchandise sales
• 7:30 a.m. Yoga Warm-up with Melissa Becker, Black Dog Yoga AK
• 7:55 a.m. Survivor group photo under start line arch
• 8:00 a.m. Staging all events
• 8:20 a.m. National Anthem by Alanna Ramsey, Miss Teen USA 2022; Bartlett High vocalist
• 8:30 a.m. 1-mile run/walk start
• 8:45 a.m. 5-mile run/walk timed start
• 9:05 a.m. 5-mile run/walk untimed start
• 9:20 a.m. 5-mile untimed party wave and strollers
• 10:15 a.m. Zumba workout with Suzy Spackman
• 11:00 a.m. Awards Ceremony begins!
• 11:30 ish Door Prize Drawings (must be present to win) and Annual RFW Raffle Drawing (you DO NOT need to be present to win)

Race Day Festivities/Door Prizes

Join the festivities with family and friends before and after the race! Yoga warm-up, free Kaladi coffee, free snow-cones at Murray Orthodontics tent, photo booth at Imaging Associates tent, The Alaska Club’s obstacle course, refreshments post-race including Great Harvest Bread Company, Zumba workout, and the awards ceremony honoring elite runners and breast cancer survivor competitors.

Special door prizes will be given to lucky Run participants! Enter the drawing to win a free trip for two to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies or a 90-Day Gold Family Membership from The Alaska Club! Your bib has a tear away section with your bib number on it. Write in your name and drop it in the entry box near the sound stage. MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN. Drawing following the Awards Ceremony. 

Wave Starts & Staging

All participants will be staged based on the race category for which they have registered. Staging will begin at 8:00 a.m. for all events.

It is each participant’s responsibility to be in her start corral 30 minutes prior to event start time. Participant bib colors will match the start corral colors as shown on the map. Look for the colored flags in your start area.

• 8:00 a.m. Staging all events
• 8:30 a.m. 1-mile run/walk start | Corral at 8:10 a.m.
• 8:45 a.m. 5-mile TIMED run/walk start | Corral at 8:15 a.m.
• 9:05 a.m. 5-mile untimed run/walk start | Corral at 8:35 a.m.
• 9:20 a.m. 5-mile untimed party wave & STROLLERS | Corral at 8:50 a.m.

Elite Corral

An elite corral is reserved for runners who completed a previous Alaska Run for Women in 35:35 or better (pace 7:07/mile). Runners with elite status will enter the starting area via the 1-mile corral and be escorted to the starting line after the 1-mile race is underway. Runners who have not participated in the AKRFW may email run@akrfw.org with documented race results to petition for access to the elite corral.

Entertainment on Race Day

A big thank you to all the wonderful volunteer entertainers who add fun out on the course and on the UAA Campus at Cuddy Quad.

If you are interested in providing entertainment on the course, email run@akrfw.org

PRERACE

• Yoga warm-up, Melissa Becker
• National Anthem, Alanna Ramsey

ON THE COURSE 

• Pepper Kit
• JazzMom Melissa Fischer
• Rick Zelinsky & Mark Manners Jazz Combo
• Anchorage Scottish Pipes & Drums
• Tomodachi Daiko Drummers
• Knock on Wood, Marimba Ensemble
• The SpeNerds
• The Empty Nesters: Jim Kerr, Denise Martin, Carole Ann & Jim Wolfe
• Mary Shallert Group

ON THE CUDDY QUAD  

• April Powers and Mark Murphy are back in the announcer’s booth!
• Alaska Career College Massage Therapy Student Sports Team
• Suzy Spackman, The Alaska Club – Zumba workout
• Be sure you visit all the booths hosted by our donors and grantees!

2023 Honorary Race Starters

Roland Gower, M.D.

We are very pleased to have Dr. Gower as a 2023 honorary starter. It is an understatement to say he played an important role in the creation and ultimate success of the Alaska Run for Women. In 1993 he worked closely with founding race director, Terri Pauls, to organize our first race. He was responsible for raising the seed money to start the event, as well as suggesting that proceeds benefit women’s health issues, specifically breast cancer.

After the inaugural event, Roland was a founding member of the newly organized volunteer board of directors, and he served as president for the first 5 years. He was instrumental in fundraising and helping to get the medical community involved as donors.

From 1975 until his retirement in 2018, Roland was a well known and highly respected breast surgeon practicing in Anchorage. Many of our participants credited him for being a guiding light through their breast cancer journeys. His own mother died of breast cancer after a 10-year battle, and he remains committed to the cause.

In his “spare” time, Roland enjoys upland bird hunting along with his Brittnany pups, spending time with his grandkids, skiing, hiking and fishing.

Carol Butler

Join us in welcoming our second 2023 honorary starter. Carol Butler began a 30-year career in real estate in 1977 and quickly became an industry leader. Out of 21,000 agents throughout the United States and Japan, she was the #1 agent for 3 out of the 5 years she worked for Century 21. In 1982, she moved to Re/Max Properties, Inc. where she continued to excel leading her team to be the #1 producer in the state and in the top 1% of agents nationwide.

While demands of her rapid pace business life were extreme, Carol always found time to help others in the industry as a mentor to new agents and a resource for fellow realtors. A tireless volunteer within the community, Carol has served on the board of directors for both statewide and national organizations too numerous to mention. These include Casting for Recovery, and Anchorage Waldorf School, as well as co-chairing the 2010 Rotary District Conference for 385 attendees from Russia, Alaska and Canada.

Her fundraising skills are legendary including efforts for Beans Cafe, Anchorage Concert Association Oscar Night Gala, the Statewide Suicide Prevention Project, and the Duct Tape Ball among others. In 2014, she was named as one of 10 “Rotary Women of Action” nationwide out of more than 3,000 nominees and honored at the White House for her work organizing the 2013-2014 Alaska Mission of Mercy. The event brought 1,358 local volunteers including 258 dentists from across the nation to provide free dental care at a two-day event to serve 1,600 residents from all over Alaska who are otherwise unable to receive treatment.

April Powers

We are very pleased to introduce April Powers, our third 2023 honorary starter. Her involvement with the Alaska Run for Women goes back many years when she was a race participant. She said, “The Party Wave are my people!” She has always loved the mission and spirit of the Run for Women, as well as the female camaraderie and celebration of breast cancer survivors. In 2008 April was diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer, and the Run’s mission became much more personal. She credits an early diagnosis and excellent care for keeping her cancer free these past 15 years.

Soon after her diagnosis, April began doing announcements at the Run. As a long-time morning show co-host with radio station Magic 98.9 (a years-long donor and supporter of the Run) her voice was recognizable to many race participants. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and runners loved hearing her announce their names as they crossed the finish line. Because of her new role on race day, she was no longer participating on the course and jokes, “I guess you could say I started running my mouth instead of the course! I love cheering for survivors, teams and every race participant.”

April said the Alaska Run for Women holds a special place in her heart, and she clearly holds a special place in ours. When mentioning the old adage, “find your tribe,” she says, “Well, the AKRFW is your tribe! And as a member of that tribe, I look forward to cheering you on again this year!”