That's very good for young Mr. Maniaci...! If it were not for his and his family's efforts the Lakestride would bypass the downtown area all together. The Lakestride was one of Ludington's premere events at one time . It started right at the corner of Ludington and James with a block party style pasta dinner held in the street on Loomis between James and Rath the night before. Now it's run way too early in the morning,starting down by the beach,over around noon and consequently NOBODY goes to see it.

I actually think it brings a lot of people down to watch it. There was over 1300 people running this year. Also, if you do it later in the day it gets a lot warmer and makes the half marathon more dangerous. And how dare they start the race by the beach where everybody would want to hang out. Nobody would want to hangout around James and Loomis or Rath

How old are you ,Sdc...? In the 80's the Lakestride brought Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Herb Lindsay,Greg Meyer and Ann Forshee to run in Ludington and thousands watched from Ludington/James down to Lakeshore. Sure 1300 ran in 2012 but how many spectators were there ..? 2-3 hundred..? A crowd,(like parades and Friday night live) is what helps commerce and THAT is the benefit to City of Ludington and it's citizens as a whole.