When more than 2,000 participants converge on the Mall St. Vincent parking lot Thursday morning for the annual Sportspectrum Firecracker 5K Race for Research, few will notice when the massive event goes off without a hitch.
While it’s hard to predict the unpredictable in a race that involves the very young and very old among professionals and amateurs, Matt McVicar is there so nothing out of the ordinary happens.
McVicar has been involved in the Firecracker for the past 12 years making sure things run as close to plan as possible.
“Without Matt, this race doesn’t get off the ground,” Sportspectrum owner Andrew Gaspard said. “To have someone with me in the journey to give input and ideas for logos, swag, awards, logistics, etc … means so much to me. I could go on forever. I tell people all the time Matt is the hardest working man in Shreveport. He loves what he does and does it so well, I couldn’t do any of this without him.”
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The kids’ portion of the race launches at 7:30 a.m. Saturday with the adults following at 8 a.m. Some will make the run through Shreveport’s South Highlands neighborhood with their families as a relationship-building outing, while others will vie for the commemorative mug presented to the top 100 finishers or the $500 first-place prize.
The fastest men will attempt to top the course record of 14 minutes, 38 seconds set in 2014 by Ben Chesars, while the fastest women will shoot for Taylor Dare’s mark of 16:43 set in 2020. And all of them can be thankful for the work of McVicar, who starts his work by securing the necessary permits.
McVicar arranges for insurance for the necessary parties and contacts the Shreveport Police Department to make sure there’s enough officers to monitor the course. He works with traffic engineering to ensure certain roads are closed on race day and he designs and orders T-shirts while taking care of online and in-store race registrations. He also helps Gaspard coordinate food and drinks for the race day while setting up the race site on July 3.
“The past two years, since Andrew Gaspard bought Sportspectrum, my work load has increased, which is great,” McVicar said. “I am more involved now than I have ever been -- and I am really enjoying it.”
The day of the race, McVicar marks the course, makes sure the packet pick-up is running smoothly, sets up the finish line and makes sure all the details are dotted when the start gun sounds. Once the final runner crosses the finish line, he begins the tear down.
“The best part is seeing all the people and watching them cross the finish line. The energy is crazy,” McVicar said. “So many people. It is nice seeing everyone enjoying the race and it gives me a lot a pride knowing that I helped put on a nice event that so many people enjoy.”
Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports him for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jimwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.
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