Another big turnout of about 600 runners is expected for the 10th annual Run the Line Half-Marathon that begins at 8 a.m. Sunday in downtown Texarkana.
The 13.1-mile race winds its way through both sides of the Texas-Arkansas state line.
Kenneth Stice, 23, of Plano, Texas, was the overall winner last year with a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes. However, Stice will not be defending his title as he is now attending college in Alabama.
The overall female winner Tia Stone will be returning. The 38-year-old from Searcy, Ark., had a time of 1:27.24. It was the first time that the mother of four children ran this race.
Placing second in the female division was Sarah Deller, 33, of Gladewater, Texas, and third went to Lacey Young of De Queen, Ark. Neither had registered as of Thursday afternoon.
Trinity Christian High School's Elizabeth Gillette was fourth with a time of 1:36.11, but she is now attending Arkansas State University and has also not registered.
Back again is Little Rock's Mark Ferguson, 43, a two-time winner, expected to be among the leaders in men's division. He placed third last year with a 1:17.0, behind Tomas Moreno, 34, of Longview, Tx., who was second with a 1:16.56. Moreno was also runnerup in 2013, but he has not not registered.
"I believe Moreno registered late last year," said race director Julie-Ray Harrison. "We had 52 sign up in the last two days last year. We have 525 registered so far, so I expect we'll have between 575-600 participants, which includes runners from 17 states."
The top local runner was Jeff Haynes, Pleasant Grove cross country coach, who placed sixth overall with a time of 1:27.24. His time earned him the title in the Grand Masters (50-59) division.
Listed above were some top competitors last year, but there will probably be several others vying for top honors in several divisions, like Stice and Stone did last year for the first time.
There is also a two-person relay, and the big favorite will be Texas High's Grant Jarvis and Arkansas High's Tyler Braswell. They're expected to better last years' winning time of 1:19.57 by Braswell and William Harrell.
The race benefits Partnership for the Pathway.