Dreamers use Crim to create success in Flint community


The Crim is "more than just a race," a description some envisioned earlier than others.

How much more? Each year, upward of 50,000 people either participate in or witness Crim Fitness Foundation events that focus not only on training for the big day, but on overall health and well being.

The Crim says it has raised more than $2 million for area charities since 1977, and its events are estimated to pump nearly $9 million a year into the local economy.

"It really isn't about the 10-mile anymore," said Phil Shaltz, a longtime Crim board member.

"The 10-mile is sort of like the actor in a really great movie, but if you didn't have the supporting cast, the movie doesn't have much of a plot. (The 10-mile is) our all-star. That's our main attraction. But the rest of the show is what really makes the whole Crim Fitness Foundation what it is today and what it means for the community."

That "show" includes a Special Olympics event the day before the main races; the 10-mile, 8K, 5K, 1-mile events and a Teddy Bear Trot for kids on race day; running clubs for youths; the Crim Kids Classic in May; 15-week summer training programs and year-round CrimFit activities.

"It might have been one man's idea, but it really has become kind of an inspiration for a community," Shaltz said. "It's become so much more than what it was."

The Flint Journal has covered every Crim from the very first Bobby Crim 10-Mile Road Race for Special Olympics.

In 2006, The Journal published Long Blue Line, The Crim at 30, a 144-page book showcasing photographs that span the years. The book documents how the event grew from one race on one day to a multi-race event to a multi-day event and finally, to a year round program that encourages fitness.

That growth came from changes, including creating a non-profit organization in 1985 to organize the event that once raised money only for Special Olympics.

Covering events, and milestones such as a new director or board officers, is easier than documenting organizational change and visions that form slowly.

On May 30, 2006, Flint Journal staff writer Christofer Machniak met with two longtime board members - Shaltz and Judy Samelson - of the non-profit organization(s) that pulled the best from one race to create a community event to benefit Flint, to benefit the people who live here.

They are just two of the thousands of volunteers who have contributed to the success of what is now the Crim Fitness Foundation.

Both have been involved in the first 30 Crim years: Shaltz has run the 10-mile race each year, Samelson is newer to that aspect of the organization. Each has quietly volunteered for other tasks.

But as Shaltz told Machniak as they waited for Samelson, it was important that he interview the two of them together as they've "been joined at the hip" through the years of dreaming, of plotting, of believing in what this event could be, of what it would be.

A key moment for the Crim came as Bobby Crim's time in the state Legislature was ending.

That same year, the city of Flint government leadership was changing. That meant two key event organizers would soon lose their "real jobs" for the state and city.

Many saw the Crim race as a community asset worth keeping. Some decided it was time for a new community, non-profit organization to ensure the Crim continued and grew.

Shaltz and Samelson were among those pulling together what they called community stakeholders. The early meetings included The Journal's editor, bankers, university leaders, and some from the city of Flint and Genesee County's governments.

"We really brought the forces of the community together and said 'hey you have this wonderful asset what do you want to do with it?' " Samelson said.

Not everyone saw the need to move from a fund-raising unit for Special Olmpics to an organization that first focused on benefitting Flint and its image and then on fit children and adults.

Enough people believed and the organization began moving forward, putting a formal infrastructure to the volunteer-led race.

Inspiration came from races in other communities, from a Michigan coach who knew the secret to a packed stadium meant attracting women, from Michael Moore's "Roger and Me" film, from Money magazine labeling the City of Flint as a bad place to live, from runners whose participation in the Crim made a difference in their own lives, from days and nights of empty streets and vacant buildings in downtown Flint.

Shaltz and Samelson agree that the 1989 move to have the race start and stop in downtown Flint was a visible sign of the changes within the organization.

The switch made it easier to keep runners, walkers and their families downtown longer for at least one day.

That change helped fulfill some of the dreams that spilled out as enthusiasts brainstormed at the Top of the Park, the Mott Foundation Building, at kitchen tables, downtown bars, or while running or walking.

Having ESPN filming the event in 1989 also was a key signal to the community and to the world that Flint, Michigan, was more than the negative image some saw.

Within a few years of the change, more races were added to the lineup. For the first time, the organization had an event director and race director.

New staff directors brought ideas to try to increase participation. Some ideas worked, some didn't.

The organization's focus changed, reflected in signs such as the name of the organization, the events, the title of the top staff member. The Bobby Crim 10-Mile Road Race for Special Olympics gave way to The Crim, then the Crim Festival of Races. A slogan - the Coolest Race In Michigan - played off the letters that made up Crim.

In 1992, a Heart and Sole program again focused attention on raising money for Special Olympics. The official Crim group stopped the event from being solely a Special Olympics fund-raiser in the mid-80s - runners were still encouraged to raise funds for Special Olympics.

The Heart and Sole expanded a few year later to give organizations such as the Girl Scouts and the Genesee Literacy Coalition the chance to raise funds by collecting pledges for each mile walked or run.

A University of Michigan-Flint study backed claims that the race benefitted many businesses directly and indirectly from the Crim's events.

That study found that the 2003 Crim Festival of Races delivered an $8.5 million boost to the Genesee County economy. That same study said that direct spending by non-local participants and guests during the Crim Race was estimated to be $5.4 million in 2003.

The 1994 death of a runner - the only fatality in the first 29 years of the race - inspired the first fitness program designed to get first-time runners in shape. 1995 also was the first year for the Crim Foundation.

In 2005, the foundation became the Crim Fitness Foundation. The name change reflected the switch in emphasis from the splash in August to year-round fitness.

"Everything was race focused and the board thought about August and how we were going to lead up to August. That's all changed now," Samelson said.

A record number of participants in the training program pleases many in the organization. The future is open to dreamers.

"We're only limited by our own vision and our own willingness to put the work behind it," Samelson said.

Shaltz agreed.

"We've just begun. I know we're 30 years into it, but we've just begun in where we can go. I think It going to be exponential now."