‘Beat the Heat’ Saturday at City Park

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX) – Craig Kingsbury is not only the Twin Falls police chief, on Saturday he’ll also be a rabbit.

Kingsbury will don a yellow shirt and kick off the “Beat the Heat” fundraiser, a 5K walk/run that helps support the Special Olympics in Idaho, particularly its Magic Valley athletes.

“We call it Beat the Heat because we use our police chief as the rabbit,” said the department’s Tracy Bramwell, who is helping with the event. “We’ll put a bright yellow shirt on him and then send him to the front of the pack. The goal is for participants to cross the finish line before he does.”

City employees are encouraged to participate, Bramwell said, and there’s usually a friendly competition between police and firemen; but the event is open to the public. Those who cross the finish line will be entered in a drawing for prizes.

As of Thursday afternoon around 80 people had signed up to participate, but Bramwell said she’d like to see 100. You can sign up the day of the event, but it’s better if you register early at BlueCircleSports.com. If that’s not doable, you can register from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Saturday at City Park.

The race starts at 9 a.m. at the park, preceded by a torch ceremony. Afterward, participants will travel along parts of Shoshone and Main Avenue in a sort of loop before heading back to the park.

“It’s the real torch from the Special Olympics,” Bramwell said. “Law enforcement is considered the guardians of the torch and we’re doing our part while it’s here. … We treat this like any other 5K race. We give out medals in each age group and there will be prizes.”

Several community partners have donated items and snacks for the event, and challenge coins will be awarded to everyone who beats the police chief. Most important, she said, the area’s very own Special Olympic athletes benefit from the event.

“It is special for us to do this for the Special Olympics, Magic Valley Team,” she continued. “I’m not sure if many people know how many big athletes we have in our community. They get to travel all over the state to represent the Magic Valley.”

As a bonus, how often do you get to see the police chief dressed in a yellow shirt and chased by at least 80 people?

“He says he’s not a runner, but I don’t know if he’s joking,” Bramwell said. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”