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Even though I’ve spent most of my life in Chattanooga, I had never participated in the Chattanooga Chase. This year, I realized that I’ve been missing out big time!
This was the 56th consecutive running of the Chattanooga Chase, making it the oldest active road race in the state of Tennessee. The race is hosted by both Fastbreak Athletics, a run specialty store that has been in town for 45 years, and The Chattanooga Track Club.
Several years back, these two organizations partnered to revitalize this race. They created a block part atmosphere, bringing in local health and wellness vendors as well as big brands like Brooks and Tailwind.
If you’re not familiar with the distance, 8k is right at 5 miles. The race takes place in the Riverview neighborhood on Chattanooga’s North Shore, and starts right next to Riverview Park. If you’ve participated in either of the Chattanooga Ironman distances, you have come through this part of town.
Riverview is full of hills, and this course was no exception. Previous participants had warned me about the hills, so I knew not to go out to hard. The first couple of miles were rolling with 2 decent climbs. I almost verbalized that the hills weren't as bad as people were making them out to be, but then we arrived at Minnekahda Rd.
To make the grade easier, the road snakes up what felt like a mountain. In all seriousness, I had to push hard just to maintain a run up this hill. I have not been able to find a certified elevation gain, but my watch said 479’, so we’ll go with that.
The last roughly 2 miles are mostly downhill, and they are fast miles! In fact, my pace was between 3 and 4 minutes faster at this point.
After one more short run with a river view, the course ends up back at Riverview Park for a fun finish surrounded by incredibly supportive spectators.
Instead of medals, each participant earns the coveted Chase shirt, and the Top 25 Male and Female runners (usually a 26 to 30 minute finish time) receive an additional shirt with the Chase logo in gold. There were well over 800 participants this year, and nearly 1,000 counting the additional runners who show up for a charity mile race.
Make sure you hang around to enjoy a performance from a live band after the race and take advantage of the opportunity to socialize over pizza, biscuits, gourmet oatmeal, and some beer!
In summary, if you're looking for a fun road race with an unusual distance and a great atmosphere, do not miss out on this one!
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