Syracuse Festival of Races Announcement Coming Tuesday, June 7, 2011 – Check out the clues and see if you can guess what innovation will be part of the festival

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – On Tuesday, June 7, 2011 the Syracuse Festival of Races (SFoR) will be announcing a significant road racing innovation that will be introduced in conjunction with the Men's 5K and Women's 5K races at the 19th SFoR on Sunday, October 2, 2011.

The SFoR has been providing runners with website clues regarding the new feature since February, with the final clues posted on May 24 at www.festivalofraces.com/news.html

"Our expectation is that this new feature will add significant fun and excitement to the race experience of virtually all of our 5K participants-and to the enjoyment of our spectators as well," says Dave Oja, founder and director of the SFoR. "What we're doing is decidedly 'outside the box,' but we expect that within the next few years road races from coast to coast will be offering their participants the same feature that we'll beintroducing here in Syracuse on October 2."

Clues regarding the new feature have elicited guesses from runners throughout the United States, with e-mailed hunches ranging from "geo-tracking of everyone in the race" to "naked women at the water stops." "We're not confirming the accuracy of any guesses until June 7th," reports Oja, "but we can say that several of the more recent guesses have been in the ballpark."

The SFoR will award a pair of complimentary, guaranteed 5K entries to the first three who submit correct guesses to daveoja@festivalofraces.com

With race entries limited to 800 in each ofthe two 5K races, Oja expects the 5K race fields to fill completely.

In addition to the Men's 5K and Women's 5K, SFoR events include the MVP Health Care 3K Fun & Fitness Run, the Tops Friendly Markets Community Walk, and the Fitness Forum/Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists Joint Replacement Run & Walk.

Participants in the various SFoR events range from area pre-school children and their families to world-class age-group athletes as old as 92 competing in the 2011 USA Masters 5K Championship.

The SFoR is Syracuse's only national destination road running event, annually attracting runners from more than 25 U.S. states and Canada.

Major support for the 2011 Syracuse Festival of Races comes from: MVP Health Care; Tops Friendly Markets; USA Track & Field; Fitness Forum Physical Therapy; Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists; Driver's Village; Dick's Sporting Goods; YNN; Eagle Newspapers; Citadel Communications; the Syracuse New Times; Family Times; and the Syracuse Chargers Track Club, Inc.