The Alley Pond Striders are putting on Alley Bowl VII on Feb 5 (Super Bowl Sunday). It’s a three-person relay in which each leg is just one mile, and instead of a baton, you pass a football. Bring the whole family down to Alley Pond Park for a great start to the new year.

February 5, 2017 — 9:30 am

Springfield Blvd & 76th Ave, Oakland Gardens, NY 11364

$24/team pre-reg, $30 day of race

Teams of three will run a mile apiece. Bring two friends or come and find a team at the pre-race sign up and Team Draft.

For the kids, there will be a Touchdown Dash–a 50-yard dash, only $1 per runner.

Following the race, everyone is welcome to join in a tailgate party.

We spoke to organizer Robert Pasqual about why he’s volunteering his time to put together a run during the winter.

Did you know that one of the days on which the largest amount of road races are held is Thanksgiving? That’s because a large number of folks want to burn off some energy in anticipation of the big meal. Well, it’s kind of the same thing with Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday is now almost a national holiday. In the New York City area, however, there aren’t a lot of races that morning. The New York Roadrunners have one in Central Park that draws very well. Too well, in fact. One year when I really wanted to race that day, the event was sold out. From that moment of frustration, Alleybowl was born.

I wanted an event that was extremely family friendly, as I coach kids on the weekend and I wanted them to participate. And I wanted to keep costs to the club down. So, no t-shirt, big trophies but everyone gets a little football and the winners get a nice party basket. And, since we’re not a big, big race, cooking post race hotdogs for all the participants isn’t a problem.

You don’t even need to be real fast to win. We also honor the first team to finish in football jerseys. Some years the weather has been less than ideal, but we haven’t cancelled yet.