Ruston to Host Half Marathon Event

Runners will need to be in tip-top shape if they plan on participating in the Piney Hills Half  Marathon on Feb. 10 because unlike most races, which are run on flat courses, Ruston’s race will be throwing in some “hilly” landscape to give runners an added challenge.

This Piney Hills Half Marathon will be Ruston’s first half marathon event, and is expected to attract as many as 250 runners in its first year. Doug Harvey, one of the event organizers, said he wanted to put together a marathon event in Ruston for a couple of reasons. Among those is the fact that North Louisiana has no marathon events in the first half of the year. He also wanted to offers runners something different from races hosted in other cities.

“We know people are running races this time of the year, but they are having to go to Dallas, New Orleans and Little Rock for those events, and we wanted to give them a local option as well as a half marathon that is different,” said Harvey. The difference in this half marathon is that it has embraced its landscape and will be known as a “hilly” half marathon. Not many races are willing to deviate from a primarily flat course.”

The Ruston Lincoln Convention & Visitors Bureau, a sponsor of the event, says the race has the potential to attract overnight visitors to Lincoln Parish.

“Running is a very popular sport for a lot of people, said CVB President/CEO Travis Napper. “We are thrilled to have this new event that will attract people to Ruston and Lincoln Parish. The event is generating tremendous buzz from the running community and the CVB is proud to be a supporter of this event.” 

The races starts in downtown Ruston, heads north and then west through the residential area, before taking the service road to Tech Drive and then snaking through the Louisiana Tech campus before returning downtown.

The registration cost is $60 per person. Harvey said entries will be accepted all the way up until the day of the race or until the number of participates reaches 250.

“We definitely feel that an athlete should come here and challenge themselves and walk away with a sense of accomplishment of not only conquering a half marathon but a hilly one.” Harvey said. “Another reason to support this event is our partnership with 4 Paws Rescue. They are our charity partner of this event and we want to do our part to help their dreams of having a permanent shelter built come to reality.”

For more information about the Piney Hills Half Marathon, visit the website at www.pineyhillshalf.com.

CVB Launches New Incentive Program to Support Tourism Growth

Local residents can help support tourism in Lincoln Parish through a new incentive program created by the Ruston Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau called “TAP” into Lincoln Parish.

The Travel Ambassador Program (TAP) seeks to get local residents in Lincoln Parish involved in helping to attract more meeting and conferences to the area by providing the CVB with personal contacts that could lead to meetings or conferences being booked in Lincoln Parish.

“The CVB recognizes that many of the residents within Lincoln Parish are a part of various associations, professional organizations, as well as social and religious groups,” said CVB President and CEO Travis Napper. “We are asking community members to be ambassador for tourism by sharing with us their personal contacts so that we can then reach out to them about bringing their meeting or conference to Lincoln Parish. We are simply asking residents to point us in the right direction and we will do the rest.”

Local residents will be rewarded for their participation.  Napper said qualified referrals that result in a definite booking of 20 or more room nights will receive a $100 gift card to one of Lincoln Parish’s outstanding local restaurants.

All qualified referrals will also be entered into a drawing for a prize packet valued at $1,000 to be awarded during National Travel and Tourism Week in May 2013.

 “This program is all about tapping into our community to attract tourism,” said Timothy Bush, vice president of sales and marketing. “There is really no reason not to involve the community. It will help us generated solid leads on potential business and help the community know how important tourism is to the local economy.”

Napper said the program will be ongoing. However, the CVB will concentrate its efforts on booking short term opportunities that are available in 2013 and 2014. Napper said the plan of action is to contact potential groups and sell them on the experience of bringing their groups to Lincoln Parish.

“Lincoln Parish has several things going for it that could appeal to potential groups,” he said. “We have affordable hotel rates, which in this economy is really important to meeting planners, we have flexible meeting space in Lincoln Parish that could work for a variety of group sizes and we are a destination that is very much in the drive market being right along Interstate 20. Many groups may have never considered Ruston before.

Our job is to let them know what our community does offer that could work for them.”

If you have a referral that could potential bring a meeting or conference to Ruston contact Travis Napper or Timothy Bush at 318-255-2031. They can also be reached by email at tnapper@rustonlincoln.com or tbush@rustonlincoln.com