Tate captures top honor at marathon

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

McMinnville native Miles Tate receives his award from a Foot Locker representative after winning the Foot Locker Challenge at the Music City Marathon last weekend. (Photo provided)

Warren County native and Murfreesboro resident Miles Tate won the Foot Locker County Challenge Race recently in Nashville, and helped out some “special kids” in the process.

The Challenge was part of the annual Country Music Marathon on April 27, and was sponsored by Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher.

Miles, a 1978 graduate of WCHS and a 1983 graduate of MTSU, finished the 26.2-mile race in 3 hours and 44 minutes to take first-place honors.

The son of Edward B. and Nancy Tate, Miles has competed in five marathons. In addition to twice participating in the Country Music Marathon, he has run in the U.S. Marine marathon in Washington, D.C., the L.A. Marathon and the Las Vegas International.

Tate, who began training for marathons in December, 2000, and first competed in the 2001 Country Music Marathon, was convinced to take on the Nashville race again to benefit a good cause.

“I had actually decided earlier not to run the Country Music again, as it is a very difficult course,” he said. “However, a local running group approached me last December and asked me to train and run with them to raise money for ‘Special Kids’, a local organization that cares for kids that have mental and physical problems.

“They asked each team member to raise $900. I set a personal goal to raise $2,500. To my amazement, I was able to raise $4,900. Not only do I have great friends, family and co-workers, but also very generous ones. Winning the marathon was just a bonus.”