Around 10,000 people gathered in Camden, New Jersey Saturday night for The Color Run Night.
The event began 7:30 p.m. at Campbell’s Field on North Delaware Avenue.
“The cool thing about this race is it’s a night-themed event,” said race director Kent Phippen. “This is our first nighttime event in the country. We’re testing it out here in the Philadelphia market.”
The event, which was founded in March 2011, is a five-kilometer, un-timed race in which runners wearing white are doused from head to toe with different colors at each kilometer.
“All the zones are going to be glowing color zones,” Phippen said. “There are going to be lots of black lights along the course. The powder is a little bit different because it glows in the dark. Everybody gets their own black light head lamp to run with.”
A daytime Color Run took place in July at the Wells Fargo Center. Phippen told NBC10 they were unable to hold the nighttime race at Wells Fargo due to limited availability.
“We wanted it to be over at the sports complex but we couldn’t find a date that worked for them in the fall,” Phippen said. “Campbell’s Field has been really grateful. We already knew we wanted to do a night-themed event in the area. We sought out a few vendors and thought this one worked best.”
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Phippen admits he received requests to change the name to the “Camden Color Run” but decided to stick with the Philly title.
“We felt that since it was the Philly area it made sense to call it the Philadelphia Color Run,” he said.
Phippen also addressed the safety concerns due to the event being held in Camden.
“We felt comfortable working with Campbell’s field and the county and felt that everything would be okay because they have lots of large events at the field,” he said. “We checked it out ourselves and talked to local law enforcement. On top of all that we really beefed up security and increased our security significantly. On top of what the local law enforcement is going to do, we have 40 more security officers [[than at the Philly race]] patrolling parking lots.”
The race ended around 10:30 p.m. with a party and two fireworks shows.
For more information on The Color Run Night, visit the official website.
