TAMPA, Fla. — The Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic is right around the corner, and as runners gear up, two of them have already logged a lot of miles under their feet by participating in the race for decades.
Among the thousands of runners at the Gasparilla Distance Classic every year without fail, you’ll find legacy runners Michael Shaver and Stuart Carrier.
“It just means I’m old and I show up,” said Shaver.
“We’ve described the fraternity of the legacy runners as a band of brothers,” said Carrier.
Both Shaver and Carrier have run every Gasparilla Distance Classic since its inception.
“47 we’ve run,” said Shaver. “This will be the 48th in a row.”
Shaver said he got into it because the company he worked for at the time wanted a team competition.
“We entered a mixed team, and they paid for it, which we won because we had a few runners, and it went on from there,” said Shaver.
For Carrier, he said he came to Tampa in 1970, courtesy of the United States Air Force.
“I worked on base at MacDill with the chaplaincy of the chaplain on the base,” said Carrier. “The chaplains were runners, and so I started running with them as part of my business routine, and I just kept going.”
What’s kept them coming back year after year is a combination of the organizers, volunteers, and a sense of community.
“It’s really, really fun,” said Shaver. “Everybody’s so friendly.”
As they get prepare to lace up their shoes for the 48th race weekend, their long-running legacy will live on.
“It’s just such a sense of belonging that you get from doing this and convening it every year. It’s not competitive,” said Carrier. “Everybody supports everybody else.”
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