There’ll be quite a few familiar faces running in the 40th annual Ice Breaker Road Race Sunday afternoon.

And if it looks like you saw someone in the 3-mile race that ran in the 5-mile event, well … chances are pretty good that you did.

In fact, it’s rather common for runners to enter all three races. Bob Stingley, who coaches the distance runners at Great Falls High, said at least one runner might be signed in all three races.

It’s not too late to sign up. You can go to http://icebreakergf.com/ for details on registering to run. 

“We have an invitational meet (Saturday) in Helena, so for Sunday, we just tell the kids to use it for a training run, and try not to run too hard,” Stingley said. “But there’s a lot of times where their competitive spirits get after them and they do a little more work than they should. I think Henry (Kakalecik) is signed up to do all three; I know Teagan (Olson, now running at Montana State) did that the last couple of years.

“It’s a great race for them to have fun in, and it’s a good community thing. It’s neat to see that many people, so I just hope if we have any bad weather that it doesn’t scare everybody away.”

Kakalecik, a junior, has run the Ice Breaker “six or seven” times, says this is an opportunity to stay fit and have a good time.

“A lot of people don’t get to get out a lot, so this is a good time to do it, be with friends and family and have a good time,” he added.

Kakalecik and his teammate, freshman Valon Haslem, prefer the weather to be somewhat cool, like the weather was Friday during team practice at Memorial Stadium.

“This kind of weather is definitely better for running,” Haslem said, describing the pleasant, 50-degree conditions.

Stingley said activities such as the Ice Breaker are highly encouraged.

“Anything running-related in the community, we like to get involved in that,” Stingley said. “We’ve put on some fun runs before, as our way to give back.

“It’s good to get involved in that, and it’s a fun thing for them to do. It’s a little bit less competitive for them than being on the track, and it gives them a different aspect of the running world.”

The five-mile race will begin at 1 p.m. from the steps of the Civic Center, winding through downtown Great Falls and across the Central Avenue West bridge, along Bay Drive to Keogh Street and back across the bridge, along River Road to the Sixth Street overpass, then on Park Drive to the finish line at 3rd Avenue North.

The three-mile race begins at 2 p.m., with the one-mile run-walk at 3.

The Tribune will publish race results as they become available following each race at greatfallstribune.com, and results can be found in Tuesday’s print edition of the Tribune.