Over the past couple of decades, running enthusiasts have experienced a resurgence of road races in Worcester, including events of all sizes and distances, welcoming all of Central Massachusetts to the second most populous city in New England.

And as part of the city’s 300th anniversary celebration, Worcester is staging a run/walk event that’s sure to appeal to the athletic hopes of all ages and abilities.

The Worcester Tercentennial 5K Road Race will kick off the second day of the city’s festive weekend celebration, at 9 a.m. June 11, covering a course entirely contained in Worcester’s downtown. The Saturday race starts and finishes on Mechanic Street at Commercial Street (one block from City Hall), across from Mercantile Plaza.

MORE: Looking for a road race in your area? Check out the local Running Calendar

“We’re really jazzed for this,” said Kate McEvoy, a co-chair of the Worcester Tercentennial Celebration Committee. “People will be really excited about it.”

And excited for so many terrific reasons. While several races over the years have been based around Worcester Common, this event is capturing the true spirit of the city, through the timing of the event and the character of the course.

“We were leveraging the kinds of events that were already successful,” McEvoy said of committee’s preparations for the tercentennial, plans which really didn’t start developing in earnest until about nine months ago, because of the pandemic. As discussions of a parade route were underway, so came in the idea of a road race, considering the recent success of the Celtic 5K in conjunction with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

McEvoy, the vice president for corporate relations at UMass Memorial Health, first reached out to Charlie Breagy, who has organized and directed the Celtic 5K among other successful races in the city, last November, and the logistics for the event picked up steam in December.

Festival and race organizers alike are most enthusiastic about the event, which is rounding out into a can’t-miss 5K, over a relatively flat course expected to be pleasing to all. The prospective courses even received trial runs by Celebration Committee member Christina Andreoli.

“It’s a fantastic course, especially when you take into consideration we have to do it in downtown,” said Breagy, who entertained about 10 variations to the route and measured the course by bike to USATF 5K specifications. “This is the fastest course I’ve ever put together in Worcester, and just about all the roads are newly paved.”

Main Street is most prominently featured on the course, with up-and-back trips through the tunnel, sandwiching a trek on Grove Street to the edge of Institute Park, down Lancaster Street to Salisbury Street. Turns on MLK Boulevard and Major Taylor Boulevard included in the first mile.

The route also passes in front of what will be the parade reviewing stand at City Hall, with the course following south before circling back at Myrtle and Southbridge streets.

“We were pretty committed on the course coming down Main Street,” noted McEvoy, who is joined as co-chair by Kimberly Salmon, Hanover Insurance Group vice president for community relations. “I think the course is really neat, it’s got great energy, with aspects like running in the tunnel.”

The aesthetics of the course also are pleasing, with a mixture of old architecture (the old courthouse, Mechanics Hall, Worcester Auditorium) along with the new (current Worcester County Courthouse, area around Mercantile Center).

“These are some of the best city roads, and the architecture along the route is fantastic,” Breagy said. “That’s what caught my attention as I was measuring the course.”

“You look at these buildings in a whole new way,” added McEvoy, who was a cross-country and outdoor track captain at Doherty High. “You realize how lucky we are to have this treasure.”

Central Mass Striders is providing volunteers for the race (“Those guys are really fantastic” — Breagy), and the Worcester Police Department continually collects the praise from Breagy and McEvoy for their help with the parade and road race routes.

The event comes a week after the Worcester Firefighters 6K (https://www.wfd6k.com/, more on that in the next Running column), and the races are promoting each other, with a discount offered if registering for both races, with only one online processing fee required. Participants can sign up for both, for $62 total, through either event's website

According to Breagy, more than 250 are registered for the Tercentennial event, with the hopes of signing up from 500 toward 1,000. “It’s pretty hard to predict with a first-time race,” he said. “This is the best showcase of Worcester — the city is going all out. Worcester has never looked so good. I’m really excited about this.”

For information on the race, visit www.discovercentralma.org/sp/worcester-tercentennial-5k-road-race/ — the registration link is https://racewire.com/register.php?id=12702. Friday packet pickup is taking place at Sneakerama on 12 Lake Ave. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with race-day registration starting at 8 a.m.

The festival's activities (see www.discovercentralma.org/worcester-tercentennial/) begins Friday, June 10, with a Tercentennial Weekend Kick-Off, featuring a Canal District stroll, Polar Park fireworks and a performance by local singing star Ricky Duran.

After Saturday's race, the Tercentennial downtown parade and celebration starts at 11 a.m., with a festival beginning at noon on Worcester Common featuring stART, musical performances, food trucks and more. 

With Brian McKnight as special guest, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra performs at 4 p.m. Sunday at the DCU Center, while there's a Tercentennial family outing with the Worcester Bravehearts at Holy Cross' Fitton Field. 

While this race is commemorative (each participant receives a commemorative T-shirt) for this year, the door is open for becoming an annual event. “Let’s see how it goes,” Breagy said optimistically, even hinting about a future name of the event (“Worcester Downtown 5K?”).

“The silver lining to the pandemic is we’re all emerging now, and people can get excited about coming to an event like this,” McEvoy said.

McEvoy mentions that owning a finisher’s medallion alone is a prime motivation to take part in the Tercentennial  5K. One side features the Tercentennial logo, the other the Worcester city seal.

“This is a keepsake they can have forever,” she said.

On Memorial Day weekend, Central Mass Striders are celebrating their 30th anniversary of hosting the Wachusett Mountain Race. This year's race is set for 9:30 a.m. May 28, the Saturday of the holiday weekend.

The event has 3-mile and 10-kilometer options, with the 3-mile route a fully paved road climb to the top of Wachusett Mountain. The 10K ventures on down off the summit on paved roads, then fire roads and trails back to the Ski Lodge area, where there's parking and registration.

Entry fee is the same for either distance, with winners of each earning cash prizes. The Wachusett Mountain Race is part of the 2022 USATF-New England Mountain Circuit.

One reminder is the event is cup-less — meaning runners should bring their own bottles or cups. There are three water stops along the 10K course, each stocked with large water jugs to fill up. Bottled water is supplied at the finish line, along with light to-go refreshments at the base of the mountain.

For registration and information, visit cmsrun.org/races-events-3/wachusett-mountain-10k/.

—Contact John Conceison at john.conceison@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ConceisonJohn.