Courtesy photo

Things are about to get a little nutty around here.

Of course, we’re referring to the Nutty Runner, the annual beer-themed 5K organized by The Spark Foundation, coming up on Saturday, March 20 this year.

As everything else is these days, this year’s event will be a masked up, socially-distant affair.

There are some other changes as well.

From the website:

Our 2021 race is being adapted into a downtown team scavenger hunt! Form a team of 2-4 people and be prepared to run a 3-4ish mile route (depending upon which direction you choose!) Solve riddles that will lead to various businesses downtown and expect 3 Nutty Runner Nut Brown Ales (by Columbus House Brewery) to be consumed along the way!

The scavenger hunt starts at the Walton Arts Center parking lot, where it ends-you will have to see! (But rest assured that if you park downtown, you will not be far from your car!) Teams will need to designate 1 member to download and use Strava in order to be considered for overall prizes. Teams will have 1.5 hours to complete the course (this averages to about 22.5 min/mile-assuming the longest route of 4 miles).

The event will include prizes in a host of categories, including longest route, best team name, and best team costume.

There will also be bonus prizes hidden in the race clue packets, organizers said.

Organizers say they decided to create a team event so that groups could be “pre-podded” together with people they have been quarantining with due to the pandemic. The teams will be sent in waves of no more than 30 people at a time, and the stop locations and directions have been designed to spread people out.

Registration is $35 per person, and $25 for a designated driver spot. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Spark Foundation, a Fayetteville nonprofit with a mission “to create a positive impact in the community by providing increased access to health and fitness education and opportunities.”

More information about the event, including info on COVID-19 protocols are available at the race registration website here.