Harrington News

Harrington Fall Festival is around the corner, time is quickly moving toward the Sept 28 event. Sponsors for the Huff N Puff event include local businesses and a few community members supporting the FBLA. What exactly is all the excitement of the Huff N Puff race?

The first Huff N Puff, a 3-mile run for fun event, occurred at the 1978 Harrington Fall Festival with 102 entrants. Apparently the original idea for the Huff N Puff was that of high school student, Linda Gooley, who suggested that Harrington have a running event. Jon Evavold, a high school instructor, began to organize the event and design the shirts. Jon Evavold and his wife, Carol, ran in the event. In 1979 the event had three divisions: three, five and eight mile courses; the pre-registration tallied at 118 one week prior to the event, of which only 38 were from Harrington. The 3rd Annual Harrington Huff N Puff had over 200 pre-register. Dave Rogers from KHQ was master of ceremonies and presented awards in the park following the race.

Weather is always a consideration for local outdoor events, whether the Odessa Deutches Fest or the Harrington Fall Festival. In 1981 with a crowd of 200 entrants, the temperature was 45 degrees and the wind was 15 mph. With an event of this size with 3 mile and 6 mile routes, the only problem encountered was a train that didn't pull far enough past the crossing to let the runners pass. Craig Moeller was Chairman of the run in 1981 and Charley Colbert in 1984. No evidence was found of Huff N Puff in 1985 and 1986, and it is supposed that the 1984 event was the last to occur.

Huff N Puff in 2013 is an activity organized by the Harrington FBLA under the guidance of Sharon Kruger. Two events are scheduled, the one-mile and the 5K (3.1 miles) on different routes, each beginning and ending at the corner of Third and Glover. Check-in begins at 8:15 with the starting of the event at 9 a.m. The 5K path will cross the RR tracks at the south city limits, follow the perimeter of the golf course, wend its way around and cross the RR tracks at the main crossing on Sherlock, and return to Willis & Glover. The one mile event remains in the central district of Harrington, primarily residential, and contains no hills. More than 60 entrants have pre-registered, including Mr Bang, Principal; Alan Tanke, school board member; Kelli Tanke, para-professional; LaMarr Larmer, 3rd and 4th grade teacher; Susan Larmer, pre-school teacher; Darren Mattozzi, chairman of the school board; and Taunya Sanford, kindergarten teacher.

Early registration (Sept 4) guaranteed the runners of the proper size for their Huff N Puff T-shirt. That date having passed, shirts will be available, however, size might be an issue. It is anticipated that this event will equal the registration figures for the original 1978 Huff N Puff event. Thirty-five years have elapsed since that first Huff N Puff. Some of the initial runners are talking "walk the run" while others are intending to sit on the sidelines. Perhaps some will compete with their prior time. Don't miss the opportunity to see history repeat itself.