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5KDevo draws hundreds of spuds to downtown Akron

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The streets of Akron were covered in spuds.

More than 900 runners — many of whom were Devo fans, others who were just fans of running — took part in the inaugural 5KDevo run Sunday morning. The race served as the capper on the annual DEVOtional fan festival that took place at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland over the weekend. It raised money for Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Akron, where Devo 2.0, the Disney-created preteen group that covered Devo songs, performed in 2006.

With the race scheduled for 8 a.m. to beat the heat, hundreds of runners and walkers, nearly all clad in their radiation-yellow 5KDevo T-shirts and cardboard 3D glasses, milled around Lock 3 before the official start, stretching and taking photos while Devo music emanated from the stage.

Reanna Monick of Canton and Michelle Reesey of Massillon wore not only the yellow shirts and glasses, but also matching energy domes to get in the spirit of the race. “We like to run, we like fun and we like music,” Monick said.

“It’s a fun event for everyone to get together and celebrate a great band,” Reesey said.

The energy domes were homemade by Monick, who suffered a few quizzical looks while creating them.

“I got caught in the store yesterday trying flower pots on my head in Home Depot,” Monick said.

While racers prepared, Devo founding member Gerald Casale and former drummer David Kendrick signed autographs and talked to fans. Shortly before the race, Jim Cheney of Run To You Racing described the route to the runners.

The Devo-themed 5K was Cheney’s idea and he brought the concept to Michael Pilmer, DEVOtional organizer and president of Devo-Obsesso, the official fan club, and bandmembers.

Before the race, Casale offered a few words of encouragement. “I’m so glad you guys showed up for this. I’m gratified to see that. I wish I could run, but I don’t think I could. Not today. I don’t even like getting up this early,” he said from the stage, drawing chuckles.

Casale praised runners for their participation and by extension helping out Miller South.

“Their mission is pretty much in line with Devo’s mission: Helping create perception and awareness in a world that seems to be devolving very fast. As you know, you can’t run from Devolution. So, today you’re going to run for it,” he said.

Casale also served as starter, standing beside the yellow-clad throng and exhorting “You are here to go!” (a Devo song reference) before declaring “D-E-V-O, GO!”

Among the crowd were serious runners, longtime fans in unique homemade outfits, couples, groups of friends and entire families with little ones in tow. There was even a man running with his dog, a whippet named Devo (get it?).

Along the way they got their thirst quenched with the help of a team of Booji Boys, Devo’s longtime, unnerving baby-masked mascot, who were working the water station.

As participants passed, Casale waved, smiled and shook runners’ hands, clearly enjoying himself.

“I’m impressed this many people turned out in the summer in Akron, Ohio. I’m gratified by that,” he said. “To be honest it’s more (participants) than I thought. I thought, who’s going to be motivated to get out in Akron in the summer to do a Devo 5K? I am impressed.”

Participants came from all over Northeast Ohio, and a few traveled much farther. Tracy Skorupski drove five-plus hours from Chicago to run the race with her Akron-based sister Jill Carlisle. Skorupski, 37, has been a fan since second grade, when she first saw the Whip It video on MTV.

Now, she is covered in tattoos, four of which are Devo-related. She proudly showed a doodle that Mark Mothersbaugh drew on her shoulder at the Akron Art Museum in 2016 when she toured his Myopia exhibit, Casale’s signature on an arm, a classic Devo logo on her leg and the title of her favorite song, Girl U Want, emblazoned across her stomach.

“It was great. Girl U Want is my favorite song and just as I was crossing the finish line, it started playing. It was perfect,” Skorupski said, smiling.

Devin Will, 21, flew in from Pearland, Texas, a suburb of Houston, to attend the race and the DEVOtional as part of her 2017 goal of doing things that make her happy.

“Two things that make me happy are traveling, and the other thing I knew I wanted to do was meet the members of Devo, and I got to do both,” she said. Will admits being a relatively new fan, having heard Whip It in a pizza shop and deciding “this song is the best!,” before buying all their music and becoming a hardcore spud.

Will, a University of Houston student and part-time dog walker, has now met two members of Devo and traveled to their hometown, and said she’ll likely be back: “I would come back for DEVOtional, but actually I would come back just to be in Akron. It’s nice. It’s a neat, cool little city.”

Kyle Cochrun of Cuyahoga Falls admitted he nearly got lost on the race route, but after some quick directions from an officer he found his way to the finish line as the overall winner with a time of 15:43.

“To be completely honest, I wouldn’t have signed up unless you got the power dome,” he said, referring to the energy domes that winners received.

“I did it for the power dome. I was really stoked to win that,” he said.

Devo-Obsesso president and DEVOtional organizer Pilmer admitted he initially thought, “What a weird idea to have a Devo-themed 5K. I’d never heard of a band doing a 5K,” he said, noting Cheney assured him fans and runners would show.

“It was great. We had a few hiccups here and there … but this is way more than I expected and no complaints from the runners who are totally into the medals and shirts,” he said.

Plans are already being formulated for a follow-up. “Next year we’ll have a Devo cover band or some sort of live music,” he said. “We already have a name for it and graphics planned out. We’re on it. It’s really cool, man.”

Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758. Follow him on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1lNgxml or on Twitter @malcolmabramABJ .


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