Teddy Bear Trot - Children race against peers
The Teddy Bear Trot is a chance for the youngest to participate in the annual Crim Festival of Races.
The main draw is the chance to run just like the older members of the community. But the event also has had its own extras - clowns and costumed characters, a treasure tent, and sometimes its own medical tent with child-size supplies and equipment. Participants also often get their own goodie bags filled with small trinkets and candy.
The first Teddy Bear Trot, in 1988, attracted about 600 children between the ages of 4 and 10.
It was fun, but some children and parents had a hard time finding each other after the race.
So in 1989, organizers used color spots on the running bibs of Teddy Bear Trot participants. Those spots matched balloon-decorated areas at the end of the race on Saginaw Street. Clowns and other helpers directed children to the balloon matching their bibs - and their parents.
Through the years, storybook characters such as the three little bears and the three little pigs joined the festivities. A chipmunk and walrus also have milled around with children waiting to run their heat of the race.
Organizers also have tried reaching many children. In 1990, race organizers announced they would cover the fees for 500 child-abuse victims and poor children.
The route of the race has changed through the years.
The Teddy Bear Trot started from City Hall in its first seven years and ended at the Crim 10-Mile Run finish line. The straight path down Saginaw Street was about one-third of a mile and four lanes wide.
In 1995 - with 1,755 trotters signed up to run - organizers tried a circular route. The course was moved north on Saginaw Street to what was then called the Radisson Riverfront Hotel.
The course was two lanes wide and was one-eighth of a mile for younger contestants and about one-third of a mile for older contestants.
Children ran on the left side of the road, then turned and came back on the right side. The idea was that parents could be at the starting and finishing line. Instead, there result was confusion and congestion.
The organizers surveyed parents and moved back to a City Hall start in 1996. They also responded to requests and added a larger holding area.
In 2000, organizers tried staging the race at The Flint Journal's parking lot. Runners went south on Harrison Street, west on Third Street and north on Saginaw Street. That move, which put the race in the thick of the action, was designed to get better crowd support for the kids.
In 2006, the race also starts near The Journal, at the corner of Harrison and First Streets in downtown Flint.
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Teddy Bear Trotters
by year
|
1988
|
600
|
|
1992
|
1,447
|
|
1995
|
1,755
|
|
1996
|
1,510
|
|
1997
|
1,407
|
|
1998
|
1,387
|
|
1999
|
1,443
|
|
2000
|
1,181
|
|
2001
|
960
|
|
2002
|
814
|
|
2003
|
909
|
The races
From the Teddy Bear Trot to the 10-Mile Road Race, find out all the info you need about the different Crim races by following the below links:
• 10-Mile Run
• 10-Mile Wheelers
• 8K Run
• 8K Walk
• 5K Run
• 5K Racewalk
• 5K Walk
• 1-Mile Run & Walk
• Lois Craig Invitational for Special Olympics
• Teddy Bear Trot
• Results: Past & Present