Join the GROW Spirit Station this Saturday for Gazelle Girl

Gazelle Girl Half Marathon and 5k is this Saturday, April 13, and the races start at 8 a.m.! In case you haven't heard, this historic race is a women’s run to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Title IX, and the proceeds are going to three local organizations for women—including Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women (GROW), Girls on the Run and the Grand Rapids YWCA.

Spirit stations will be placed along the half marathon and 5k course to build excitement and cheer on the runners. Spirit stations will be sporting teams, companies, groups, bands and just plain excited and encouraging people. If you want to join a group and coordinate your spirit, you're welcome to join the GROW Spirit Station! Read on for details.

Plan on arriving downtown around 7:00 a.m. to be to the spirit station by 7:30 a.m. (with the race course blocking roads, you may need to park and walk a block or two—give yourself extra time). Runners will begin at 8 a.m. and are expected to fi­nish by 11:30 a.m. We can expect runners to be going passed the GROW spirit station everywhere from 8:20 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

The GROW spirit station will be located in Canal Park on Monroe Ave NW between Mason St and the 6th Street Bridge/Newberry St NW. The map shows that the 5k runners will be coming from Division, going west on Mason, heading south on Monroe and going west on the 6th Street Bridge. The half marathon runners will be coming through Canal Park’s trail and not on the road. They will pass right by the intersection of Mason and Monroe, heading south to the 6th Street Bridge.

We've created a map of where our Spirit Station will be. We’re welcome to stand anywhere in Canal Park, and will have to turn around between the time 5k runners come from Mason down Monroe to when the half marathon runners start coming through the park.

This is the map of the 5k route. And this is the route for the half marathon.

Here is a map of parking facilities. This map has GVSU parking facilities, some of which are free and open to the public.

View the full race page here.

What You Should Bring:

Spirit Station volunteers and bystanders should have any signs or noisemakers they’d like to cheer people on! Common things are poster board signs, cow bells and horns, but feel free to be creative. It’s a big boost to see people rooting for you, so have fun and be loud!

As of right this second, the weather forecast for Saturday is 40° and sunny, but Friday might snow and Sunday might be tropical, so be prepared. Take a look at the forecast on Friday and see if you will need to bring an umbrella or sunblock. Who knows! Also, wear layers to make sure you don’t have to join the race just to stay warm.

Whether you are running the race, cheering at our station or one of the others or just hanging out along the course, thank you to everyone participating! This historic race is going to be amazing and we're so happy to be involved!