Race Report: thanks for being part of the 55th Annual Saguaro Labor Day Run

Thanks to all of you for being part of the 2026 Saguaro National Park Labor Day Run, produced by the Southern Arizona Roadrunners.

Thank you for being part of this wonderful running community!

Results, Awards, and Goodies: Click here for all 8 Mile and 5k race results.

All finisher times and finishing videos can be found at the results page.

If you won an award but didn't pick it up at the race, please visit The Running Shop to get your gift card. See further below for details on the overall and age-group winners and awards. If you live out of town, contact the Running Shop (3055 North Campbell Avenue -- 520-325-5097)about redeeming your gift card.

Speaking of The Running Shop, any remaining purchased medals will be at The Running Shop starting September 8th through September

If you have any questions about your results, please complete the Roadrunner Race Timing form here and Greg will get it taken care of as soon as possible.

Special acknowledgement to the club members and volunteers of the Southern Arizona Roadrunners. SAR is one of the most well-known non-profit running clubs in the country, with a 50+ year history of promoting health and wellness throughout Southern Arizona and raising funds for local charity organizations. Information on joining SAR can be found here. Information on their updated Volunteer Program with cool swag and goodies can be found here.

Special acknowledgment to title sponsor TMC Health: Thanks to TMC Health for the financial support of this event -- we can't produce events like this. And thanks to TMC Health for helping us have such a vibrant and healthy community!

OK -- Thanks to all of you for helping make our community so special. This is something like the 23rd year that I've been the race director and I'm grateful to be part of this wonderful event.

Randy Accetta, Saguaro race director

Thanks to all of you for being part of the 2026 Saguaro National Park Labor Day Run, produced by the Southern Arizona RoadrunnersRace Photos: The photos in this email are our own hasty snapshots, but soon you can track down really good photos from SAR photo sponsor, Damion Alexander.

See Damion's smugmug page here. See Damion's Long Realty page here.

For social media, please tag @runsar on Instagram and Facebook.

You can also hop onto to the photo page here and upload a photo. Here's one, of Autumn Klesch.

Next Up from SAR: We hope to see you at upcoming SAR-calendered events:

Community Event:

October 31: 44th Annual Oracle 10k

Saguaro By the Numbers:

889: Total registrants
489: 8-Mile Run registrants
35: 8-Mile Early Walk (36 lasdt year)
365: 5K registrants (356 last year)
83 and 83: Oldest Finishers, Loretta Gascoigne and Shirley Hester
82 and 81: Oldest 8-Miler Finisher, Lewis Parkhill and Lawrence Clever
1: Age Group Winner from Germany
1: Age Group Winner from Peru
3: Number of entities for which this event raised funds: National Park Service, Friends of Saguaro, and Southern Arizona Roadrunners
$837 in participant donations to the Friends of Saguaro National Park
$467 in donations to the Southern Arizona Roadrunners

WINNERS, RESULTS & AWARDS

8-Mile Top Finishers:

First overall saw Jose Delgado cross the line in 45:56 (a mere 14 seconds slower than last year's victorious time). Running for the Workout Group, Jose ran a strong race from the front, finishing almost three minutes ahead of Matthew Clark's 49:06 in 2nd. 3rd place finisher Neil Lenneman crossed the line in 49:23.

Former UA distance running standout Sailor (Hutton) Quirarte also cruised to a second straight victory in the women's division, finishing in 52:15, ahead of Stephanie Pierce, who took second in 53:59. Workout Group's Jori Galles clocked 55:11 to finish third overall, as she works her way back from a spring time injury.

Chrissy Parks was the first female master's runner, while that honor went to Lucas Tyler in the men's division.

5K Winners:

In the 5K, youngster William Shamne came down from Chandler to win in 19:23 -- young William is 12 years old. In the women's race, Lashante Butler sprinted to the tape in 22:15, good for fourth overall.

Top runners all received gift cards to The Running Shop.

Links to Results: You can see the searchable link to the various results pages at the race registration page here.

You can also follow the results links at https://results.runsar.org.

All winners receive gift cards to long-time race sponsor The Running Shop. If you're one of the top finishers, you can pick up your award before the end of September.

How to Get your Award: If you were not on hand for the awards ceremony and you received an age group award, please visit The Running Shop before the end of September to pick up your award. (You can hear the audio of the awards off-and-on throughout the videos towards the end of the results . . . )

Here is a reminder of the award categories and gift card values:

8 Mile:

8M Run: Top three overall male and female: 1st: $40, 2nd: $35, 3rd: $30. Masters 1st: $35.
8M Age Groups: Top three male and female: U19 through 80+, in 5-year increments, AG1: $25, AG2: $20, AG3: $10.

5K:

5K Walk/Run: Top three overall male and female: 1st: $30, 2nd: $25, 3rd: $20. Masters 1st: $20.
5K Age Groups: First Place in U10 through 80+ in ten-year increments: $15.

Thanks again to Greg Wenneborg of www.roadrunnerracetiming.com who managed all the timing.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped put this together -- you will see names mentioned more than once and that is because they volunteered for multiple duties!

Thelma Scott

Lauren Bonefont

Jennifer Weiser

Jaime McGonegal

Davis Hubbell

Jessica Lyon

Cameron Tully-Smith

Sarah Wolf

Traycee Valentin

Paul Valentin

Taylor Gillis

Anne C Hoff

Haley Keller

Joan D'Alonzo

Beatriz Vargas

Michael Carr

Alejandra Alvarado

Yeil Park

Kevin Bond

Elizabeth Lubis

Wayne Lubis

Alexa Knight

Claire Crow

Gail Urbanski

Dave Dixon

Mike Urbanski

Amy Dillon

Debby Jones

Caroline Gardiner

Craig McCarthy

Caroline Gardiner

Diana Jacobson

Isela Howlett-Giokaris

Giselle Bonilla

Erin McGinnis

Andrea Smith

Adrian Lopez

Patricia Mcnamara

Gary Giese

Midge Ochart

Karen Begay

Agata Orlinski

Craig McCarthy

Thanks to Doug Kelly (left) and Joel Stamp (right) for jumping in all morning -- we love the shirts!

Much appreciation to the Team Purple and Tucson Tri-Girl crew who managed the water stop one mile from the finish line. They turned out in force to honor the late Joanie Rogucki, long-time friend of our running and fitness communities.

Much appreciation as well to the high school students from Mica Mountain XC for handing out water at the 3 and 5 mile mark . . . thanks Coach Josh and crew!

Thanks to the young women from FC Tucson's soccer team (and their parents) for helping at the finish line water station.

SAR President Craig McCarthy deserves a big shout-out -- he is wrapping up his term and passing the torch to Mike Urbanksi, but Craig has worked tirelessly on behalf of SAR -- thank you Craig!

I'm sure I am missing some of the volunteers, but thanks to all of you!

Thanks to Clint and Angela from Starlight Deejays for handling the music and announcing, even the Austin Powers stuff!

Special thanks to the crew at The Running Shop for all their help with packet pickup.

Behind the Scenes: John Ward helped set the course on Sunday night, then drove out in the dark to ensure that everything was taken care of -- thanks John!

Special thanks to Tia Accetta for her tireless efforts to produce this race, in the weeks and months beforehand and on race weekend.

Finally, all SAR volunteers will be enrolled in the SAR Volunteer Reward Program managed by the SAR Board See details here.

More thanks to the folks at the National Park Service for allowing us to produce this event -- and for all the work to keep everyone safe throughout the day!

THANKS TO SPONSORS

The Running Shop provided race packet pickup support, with Lucas Tyler and the whole staff available to help all runners and walkers snag their race giveaway items.
The Running Shop also provided all the age group awards -- thanks to Lucas for being so supportive of this event.
Tucson Medical Center provided funding and post-race snacks. (TMC photo from 2025!)
CELSIUS provided sports recovery drinks and more at the finish line.
UofA provided the ambulance crew on hand to ensure safety -- thanks to them for the early morning race help!
SAR provided GELU's Italian Ices for eveyone!
Stamback Services provided the portojohns.
Damion Alexander took a boatload of photos. For more info on Damion's work, see Damion Alexander Team at Long Realty.
Renewal by Andersen was the vendor sponsor.

EVENT BENEFICIARIES

The National Park Service: It is an honor to be able to produce a race on National Park land. Special thanks to Steve Bolyard and the event day crew for helping ensure all of our safety -- and special thanks to Superintendent Leah McGinnis for all the support. And thanks to all the runners and walkers, we were able to provide Saguaro with over $11,000 in operating funds.

Friends of Saguaro: This year's event will donate funds to the Friends of Saguaro National Park, whose mission is to help the public discover Saguaro, protect Saguaro, and support Saguaro.

Southern Arizona Roadrunners: This event raises operating funds for SAR and income for the Children's Fitness Fund, an award-based program supporting youth fitness in and around Tucson.