TAT: Chile Pepper Gives Back to Community

This article originally appeared on October 1, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

The Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival board gave $42,000 to area high schools at its annual pre-race press conference Tuesday.

Seven Northwest Arkansas high schools, Springdale, Springdale Har-Ber, Fayetteville, Rogers, Rogers Heritage, Bentonville and Siloam Springs, were given $6,000 each for their cross country programs.

The money will be used for uniforms, equipment and even travel expenses to over-night cross country meets. In the 25 years of the event, $314,000 has been donated to local high school programs.

“The whole purpose of (the Chile Pepper race) is to be a benefactor to the high schools,” women’s cross country coach Lance Harter said. “We’re so proud of the development in our high school programs in Northwest Arkansas.”

Harter also said that the Arkansas cross country programs, men’s and women’s, benefit from the race because thousands of high school runners come to the race from all over the country.

The race gives Harter and men’s cross country coach Chris Bucknam a chance to showcase Fayetteville and the UA.

There is also a collegiate portion of the race, in which both men’s and women’s teams will participate.

“We’re excited about the meet this weekend,” Bucknam said. “We haven’t really raced our whole team yet, but we will this weekend. We’re going to let all of the dogs out of the pen and see where we stand.”

The men’s team is led by junior Stanley Kebenei, who has won the Razorbacks’ first two meets, and senior Kemoy Campbell, who finished second in his only race this season. Senior Solomon Haile will be making his season debut at the Chile Pepper Festival.

The women’s team also has a strong trio of runners. Senior Stephanie Brown and sophomore Dominique Scott have each won a race for the Razorbacks this season, but Harter said he thinks junior Grace Heymsfield has an excellent chance to win Saturday.

As for the race itself, it has been shortened from a 10,000m race to an 8,000m race for the men and from a 6,000m race to a 5,000m race for the women.

“From a spectator’s standpoint, I think it looks better,” Bucknam said. “I think everybody will be able to see the last three-quarters of a mile.”

The Chile Pepper Festival is Saturday, with the men’s collegiate race scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m. and the women’s collegiate race following at 10:20 a.m.