Runner Safety Important at Greer Earth Day Run

About 5,000 runners are expected to attend the Earth Day Run in Greer this weekend.

The run, hosted by the Greenville Track Club, will begin at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at Greer City Park.

Some of Greenville Track Club's members ran in the Boston Marathon earlier this week. With the events of the Boston Marathon still fresh on everyone's mind, Greer police said the run will be a safe one.

Lt. Jim Holcombe of Greer Police Department said officers are largely responsible for the safety of the runners and of the race route.

"The race is moving forward," Holcombe said. "We will have most of our staff out there working security for the event and most of our off-duty officers will be working on Saturday, too. But we haven't made any changes in the way we will handle Saturday's race."

Holcombe said officers will be stationed along the race course as runners participate in a 5K, 10K and half marathon.

Runners also should be reminded that while officers will be blocking major intersections, there will still be traffic on the roadways.