AN INTERVIEW WITH DEWAYNE CARL The Race Director of the Long-Standing Narbona Pass Classic
What is the history of the Narbona Pass Classic race? Narbona Pass Classic has been in my family for 40 years. This race is just as old as I am...I still can’t wrap my head around that. Hard to believe that the race has involved my family for that long. Most runs/ races usually don’t last that long. My father Chester is the founder of this event. He was the race director for most of those years, until the early 2000’s he gave the race director duties to my brother and I. We co-directed the race for about seven years, and now I am the race director. My family has always been a running family from my father to all my uncles and aunties. I continue to run and coach my daughter’s cross country and track team. This is the 40th Running of the Narbona Pass Classic. The race has been capped at 500 participants for the 10k event. Do you know how many racers participated in the first race, and why do you think you have had so much success? The Narbona Pass Classic race started as the Washington Pass Classic, when the Navajo Nation was successful in the name change, the race name changed as well. The Carl family organized the first race in 1979 as a 4-mile run over unimproved horse trails that had been used for centuries. A total 105 runners turned out, when the norm for races were usually about 35 runners, later the race topped 740 runners and was named as one of the top 100 10K Races in the United States by Runner’s World magazine. Realizing the potential, a new 10K course that is used today was mapped out over the blacktop, improved gravel road, former logging road and old trails. I think the race has been successful because it’s a family event. Most of the parents around 16
July 2019
