June 72025
Days to Race361
In-Person Race Day Details for June 7, 2025
Distances
- 5-mile timed & untimed
- 1-mile untimed
- Start/finish: UAA Campus near Cuddy Quad 3400 Seawolf Dr. Anchorage 99508
Rules of the Road for All Participants
-
- Course marshals have the authority to remove any participant in violation of the rules of the event.
- Race bibs must be worn on the front and be clearly visible at all times on the course.
- All participants must follow the measured, designated course.
- Do not short cut through parking lots, alleys or grass areas along the bike trail or you will be disqualified.
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
- 7:55 a.m. Survivor group photo under start line arch
- 8:00 a.m. Staging all events
- 8:20 a.m. National Anthem
- 8:30 a.m. 1-mile untimed run/walk start and strollers
- 8:45 a.m. 5-mile run/walk timed start
- 9:05 a.m. 5-mile run/walk untimed party start 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 the start area 30 minutes prior to event start time. Participant bib colors will match start times 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 | Start area at 8:10 a.m.
- 8:45 a.m. 5-mile TIMED run/walk start | Start area at 8:15 a.m.
- 9:05 a.m. 5-mile UNTIMED party run/walk start | Start area at 8:35 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 following the 1-mile participants 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, Black Dog Yoga
- National Anthem, Maura Wharton
ON THE COURSE
- Pepper Kit
- JazzMom Melissa Fischer
- Rick Zelinsky Jazz
- Anchorage Scottish Pipes & Drums with Crow Creek Pipes & Drums
- Tomodachi Daiko Drummers
- Knock on Wood, Marimba Ensemble
- The Empty Nesters: Jim Kerr, Denise Martin, Carole Ann & Jim Wolfe
- Alaska City Quartet
- Bayou Glacier
ON THE CUDDY QUAD
- April Powers 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!
2025 Honorary Race Starters
Kimberly Olmsted
We happily welcome Kim Olmsted as a 2025 honorary starter. Many of you may know that Kim is an artist who, over the years, has contributed eight AKRFW annual designs (shown below), but she has also been one of our competitive age group runners. This year marks her 23rd event. In 1993 she ran the inaugural AKRFW finishing 19th overall. In the14 events when she could run, she placed in the top five of her age group nine times. Since her final knee surgery in 2016, Kim has walked or participated in our event virtually. Except for last year when Kim wanted to race one more time to savor the experience while understanding it was her last. She trained for 11 weeks and had a wonderful experience. These days she enjoys watching her daughter Kaelan (a top 10 finisher) and friends run on race day. Kim continues to contribute by walking the racecourse two to three times a week all spring, summer, and fall clearing trash. Why? She lives on the course (approximately mile 3.25) and takes East Side Pride to heart!
In 1996 Kim discovered a lump in her breast which fortunately was just an enlarged lymph node, and since that time she has filled the tag she wears on her back on race day with the names of nearly 20 friends who have battled breast cancer including her sister-in-law, Peg, and her niece, Katrina. She knows breast cancer can strike anyone, regardless of fitness or background and continues to self-check monthly and schedule mammograms yearly.
A woman of many talents, Kim has taught high school English, worked in various behind the scenes capacities in theater and opera, served as a legal assistant, coached high school and independent swimming, illustrated books, and designed for web and print. She retired from professional work in 2018.
Never one to sit still, her current passions are reading 1-2 books a week, walking or hiking, playing the piano every day, K-Dramas, and attempting to learn the Korean language as well as gardening, baking, cooking, carpentry, knitting, and occasional painting.
After three decades of master swimming and four decades of running resulting in three shoulder surgeries and three knee surgeries, Kim is keenly aware of body limitations. “We can’t change the genes we inherit,” she says. “Mine were not conducive to long-term aerobic activity. I have accepted that and find I thoroughly enjoy walking. Appreciate and celebrate whatever your body can manage at whatever point in your life.” Her advice on race day is the same advice she gives all her family members when they head out to exercise or compete, “Have fun!”
Mackenzie & Cody at Lavaman
Mackenzie Carpenter
Help us welcome Honorary Starter, Mackenzie Carpenter, a Family Medicine Doctor at Providence Medical Group. Originally from Idaho, she and her family have lived in Anchorage for the past eight years. Her husband, Cody, is a Civil Engineer with the Alaska Railroad, and they are the parents of an adorable 2-year-old daughter.
At age 34, Mackenzie found a lump in her breast while pregnant with her daughter. Diagnosed with breast cancer a few months later in June of 2023, she opted for an egg retrieval, then chemo, and finally surgery in December 2023.
In April 2024, four months after a mastectomy Mackenzie and Cody completed the Lavaman Triathlon in Hawaii while she continued her treatment. She said, “I walked most days through chemo, and added swimming to train for the triathlon.” She wasn’t sure she’d complete the event, but she liked having a goal, and she did it!
She also participated in her first Alaska Run for Women last year, just two months after Lavaman. Walking at University Lake with her two dogs is a favorite activity, and she and her family enjoy RV camping and travel. Since her diagnosis, they have made it a priority to visit family Outside, and they’ve happily welcomed family to Alaska to spend Thanksgiving with them.
In October of 2024, she learned she was Stage 4 after a brain MRI showed a metastasis. She underwent brain radiation followed by two tumor resections in early 2025.
Mackenzie told us, “I am beyond grateful for my team at Katmai Oncology, and for the research that results in more treatments to prolong a quality life.” She wants others diagnosed with breast cancer to know that hope is very important and it’s always there. She said, “Take things one day at a time, and find something beautiful in your life every day!” We are all moved and inspired by Mackenzie’s story, and are honored to share race day with her.
