Belding joins London, Los Angeles, other cities worldwide in hosting Nike+ Human Race

By Howie Beardsley | The Grand Rapids Press

October 22, 2009, 9:00AM

Few people would compare the cities of Buenos Aires, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Rome and Taipei with Belding.

They will come Saturday.

Belding, with a population of 5,691, will join 24 cities worldwide as sites for the second annual 10K Nike+ Human Race.

RUNNING IN BELDING

What: Nike+ Human Race at the Every Stride 5K/10K When: Saturday as part of the Every Stride 5K/10K at Candlestone Golf and Resort  Schedule of events: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. -- Race party 9 a.m. -- 5K run  9:05 a.m. -- 5K walk  9:45 a.m. -- 10K run  11:15 a.m. -- Gazelle Sports kids 1-mile run, fun run and events. Registration fee: $18, which includes entry in both runs; register at any Gazelle Sports location and at Candlestone Golf and Resort andmirunning.com

The Belding event -- called the Nike+ Human Race at the Every Stride 5K/10K -- combines last year's Every Stride 5K/10K with the global Nike 10K run.

How this road run marriage came about was a combination of success at the 2008 Every Stride 5K/10K at Candlestone Golf and Resort and the date of Saturday's race.

"We expected to have a couple hundred runners last year," Every Stride race director Chris Nicholas said. "But it just blew up, and we wound up with about 750 runners for a first-year event that went very smoothly.

"Nike did their Human Race last year on Labor Day, liked the way it went and decided to move it to October this year on the same day as our two runs."

Nike also was looking to place one of its races in Michigan. So company officials placed a call to Gazelle Sports, which has been a longtime sponsor of local road runs, is a sponsor of the Every Stride and helped sponsor the inaugural Human Race.