The inaugural Antietam Brewery 5K and Beer Mile, presented by Racine MultiSports in partnership with Antietam Brewery, took place Saturday, May 12, 2018, in Hagerstown Maryland. The weather was beautiful and there was a great turnout.

The day started out with the 5K. The 5K looped around Tandy Drive and Western Maryland Parkway starting and ending at Antietam Brewery.

This event was chip timed using instant live results that were viewable in real time, online and at kiosk stations at the event. Brad Dodson of Martinsburg, West Virginia was the overall male winner with a time of 17:10 and Sherry Stick of Eldersburg, Maryland was the overall female winner with a time of 18:09. Awards were given out to the top 3 overall male and female winners and to the top male and female winners of each age group. They were all awarded a custom 32 oz beer growler.

All finishers received a pint glass with a ticket for a beverage (included in registration price) from Antietam Brewery and the after-party began. Participants came into the Brewery for their beverage and were able to enjoy some amazing beers along with their friends and family. There was plenty of places to hang out including the bar, pub tables, and especially the amazing new beer garden with picnic tables, a live band, and a super cool beer tap waterfall fountain.

The next event was the highly anticipated Beer Mile. There were 3 waves for this event. The event started in the designated beer drinking zone, which happened to be right next to the beer garden so all those having fun at the after party were provided great entertainment. Participants all held their first beer and once the race director, Ken Racine, announced “GO!”, they popped the cans and chugged their beers. To prove that the beers were indeed fully consumed they had to dump the can over their heads to show nothing spilled out before they could proceed to run the first lap. Once they ran a quarter mile lap around the Antietam Brewery grounds, they returned to the beer drinking zone and repeated the process. There was a total of 4 beers consumed and 4 laps. On the final lap instead of entering the beer drinking zone, they ran through the finish line arch and completed their race. When asked, most of the Beer Mile participants felt they “beat the buzz” and did not really feel the effects until a few minutes after they completed the race.

The Beer Mile was also chip timed with instant live results. Brad Dodson, winner of the 5K, also took overall first place in the Beer Mile with a time of 7:28 and Diane Mogard of Springfield, Virginia, took first place overall in the women’s division with a time of 10:49. They both were awarded a custom 32 oz beer growler. All finishers of the Beer Mile also received a pint glass with a ticket for a beverage from Antietam Brewery, where they got to join in on the after party.

Bill Skomski, owner of Antietam Brewery said this was their biggest event they have held so far at Antietam Brewery since their grand opening almost a year ago. “We sold over 500 pints and 360 cans of beer. We had 400-500 people at the event which was a huge success. We couldn’t be happier with the professionalism and organization of Racine MultiSports and we look forward to doing future events. We would like to thank all the participants, sponsors, and everyone who supports Antietam Brewery. A special thanks to the Washington County Sheriffs Department and EMS services. Cheers!”

Stacey Gatrell, Event Specialist of Antietam Brewery, said, “On May 19th Antietam Brewery will be having a Grand Opening celebration of our new Beer Garden expansion and we invite everyone back to enjoy!”

Ken Racine, owner of Racine MultiSports said, “I am very pleased with the success of this first year event. We are thrilled about the invitation we received from Antietam Brewery to do this event and look forward to a long-term relationship with the brewery. Bill, Stacey and the entire Antietam Brewery crew were so great to work with and were amazing hosts! We look forward to coming back soon for the next event at the brewery. Discussions are already underway on how to improve on the 5K and Beer Mile for our second running of the event”.