Run for the Rosé History

Started in 1979 as the Downtown Derby Strutters, this event draws waiters and waitresses from Louisville-area restaurants and corporate teams to compete in a "skilled" foot race. The event is judged by totaling a combination of the wine remaining in the glasses and by the amount of time it takes to cover the course.

The first course was in the center of the River City Mall, and was charted through enthusiastic crowds of shoppers and office workers. In 1991, the Run for the Rosé was moved to the Belvedere in downtown Louisville. The Rosé course was moved in 1999 to the newly created Waterfront Park Overlook and Great Lawn. The 2000 event was held at the brand-new Louisville Slugger Field and continues to be contested there.

The event was born as a way of involving downtown area restaurants in the Derby Festival. Since the beginning, waiters and waitresses have showcased their wine serving skills while jumping, skipping and winding through adventurous routes. Speed and accuracy are the goals, as the winners are calculated on the fastest time with the most wine remaining. After "weighing in", the runners can even drink their results.

Now with participants from across Jefferson County and Southern Indiana, today's Rose' continues to bring out the fastest service in the local restaurant community.

In 1981, as the event grew in popularity, many changes were made. It found a new home on the Belvedere, a new name, Run for the Rose', and the format was changed to competing heats. Heats allowed more participants to compete in several timed trials.
   
A record 140 entrants competed in 1988 and has become the magic number that maxed out the playing field. Since then, the event has been considered a full field with 140 runners.

The addition of celebrity heats in 1989 created a competition for well-known personalities in the community. Competing in this inaugural heat were Charlie King, Jim "Pop" Malone, Steve Magre and last-minute entry Terry Meiners. This hilarious competition was won by Meiners. To open this event to local businesses, this heat was changed to a corporate relay format, with four employees from each company taking part in a corporate challenge competition. One opens the wine bottle and pours the wine, passes the tray to their co-worker to run a quarter of the course, then pass it off to the next runner. The team with the most wine wins.

So how does one practice for this zany event? As 1998 winner Melissa Link said, "It's all in your balancing skills. As a server I practice daily by carrying heavy trays of food and beverage. To be a great server you need to be quick and carry food and drink with grace. All this helped me to practice for my Rose' win."

From the steps of the county courthouse to a shopping center and the Belvedere, Run for the Rose' committee member Paul Ogden has seen it all.

"I remember one year when we couldn't find the corkscrews, so me and some of the committee members raided Kunz's, thanks to the help of Fred Kunz and Ed Hasenhour. We took every corkscrew we could find and left them with one," said Ogden.

Over the years Ogden has experienced many laughs. "One year on the Belvedere two poor waitresses from the Galt Houses were under so much pressure to win, because all their co-workers were leaning over the edge of one of the rooms cheer them on. Of course the pressure didn't help and the entrants ended up with no wine at all, but they still had lots of fun," said Ogden.

Another year he remembers some spectators taking part in all the fun, after the races. "We use to poor all the remaining wine into one big barrel," he said. "Word must have gotten out because there were a couple of years you would see spectators staking their positions as the committee began clean up. As the clean up would start the raid began."

As for the tips for the entrant he said, "Physical conditioning counts, you need to run fast and hard against the wind. Wind can be a challenging obstacle."

Paul Ogden is not the only unsung hero in this event. He credits Metro Parks and Harry Dennery for their commitment to the event for more than 20 years. Dennery has made it possible to computerize the results of this event in seconds and Metro Parks has laid out the course every year, creating the challenging obstacle for the best service in town.