Over 1,500 participants took place in the Joplin Memorial Run, Saturday morning. An event to remember and honor the 161 lives lost to the 2011 tornado. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro ran the 10k race this year and has this report.
The origin of the race dates back to 2009 when it was the Boomtown Days run.
The event was cancelled in 2011 returning the following year as the Joplin Memorial Half Marathon.
This year, runners from 17 states converged on what is known as “Ground Zero” or Cunningham Park, across the street from the former site of St. John Medical Center.
The nine-story building was lifted off of its foundation and destroyed by the EF-5 tornado with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour on Sunday May 22, 2011.
Patrick Tuttle, Director of Joplin’s Visitors and Tourism Bureau shared his thoughts Saturday on how the event has changed and what it means to residents.
“The old phrase about least we forget. You know, it’s always important to remember the 161 that we lost. It's a lot of feelings, that people have through the years, the recovery. But also, the fact to mark that we’re such a resilient community and that’s just the power of it all. So, this energy, the next generation, it’s all good stuff.”
The 16-acre former site of St. John’s hospital was donated to the city and reconstructed as Mercy Park, including an outdoor chapel marking where the hospital once stood.
For 89 9 KRPS News, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro
