Chihua-wow! 8th annual Running of the Chihuahuas draws crowds to Chattanooga

Hits96 radio personality Jason Walker takes a look at 11-year-old "Aura" at rest on Jana Mead's shoulder prior to the Running of the Chihuahuas on Saturday.
Hits96 radio personality Jason Walker takes a look at 11-year-old "Aura" at rest on Jana Mead's shoulder prior to the Running of the Chihuahuas on Saturday.

At post time Saturday, they didn't play "My Old Kentucky Home." Instead, the "Rocky" theme was blasted on repeat. Coronas were consumed in place of mint juleps. Sombreros were the fancy hat of choice.

The magnificent beasts that hundreds wedged themselves against PVC fencing to see were not giant thoroughbreds named Ocho Ocho Ocho, Danzig Moon or American Pharoah. They were tiny mutts named Chalupa, Rascal and Romeo. This was not the 141st "Run for the Roses" at Churchill Downs. This was the eighth Running of the Chihuahuas at the First Tennessee Pavilion.

It was a day billed by pundits as one of the single greatest sports days of the year, packed with events like the long-awaited megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, the Kentucky Derby and Day 3 of the NFL Draft, all boasting juicy story lines and the promise of high drama.

The "ROTC" more than held its own: 122 dogs, five per heat, running down a 50-foot stretch of green turf. Winners from each heat would advance to the semifinals, and those winners would go on to the final.

Would one-eyed Olive, an ROTC veteran who's never made it past the semifinals, finally break through? Would Oliver, dubbed the "Susan Lucci of Chihuahuas" for making it to every ROTC final and never winning, finally taste victory? Or would it be Milo, who lost a leg after being hit by a car?

Would any even run in a straight line to their owners' outstretched arms at the finish? Or would they cluster at the starting line, getting "familiar" with one another?

The brainchild of Hits 96 radio personality Brad Steiner, the ROTC was born eight years ago when Steiner was riffing on the air about how Chattanooga didn't have a Cinco de Mayo celebration. He suggested a Chihuahua race.

"I say a lot of stupid stuff on the air, and I had completely forgotten I'd said it until people started calling in saying, 'Hey, I've got a chihuahua,'" he said.

In the first year, 12 dogs raced for glory in the station's parking lot. Since then, the event has mushroomed. By the third year, there were food trucks, vendors and musical acts. This year, three major recording artists performed for free, including rising pop singer Rachel Platten, who flew in from Los Angeles for the event.

"Hits 96 has been very supportive of me, so I wanted to show them some love for the love they've shown me," Platten said. "Besides, this is awesome. I'm a huge dog lover."

Though in the end it was Bob who was crowned a second time as "Grand Chihuahua," the event was full of small triumphs. In the first heat, Chalupa galloped all alone to the finish line like Secretariat at the Belmont. Milo, the three-legged dog, cruised to victory in his heat. After Reggie S. crossed the finish line first in his heat, Sandy Smith squealed with delight, scooped up her pup, and hoisted him into the air. Reggie's win shattered her expectations.

"Every year he stops and smells butts," Smith said. "This is the first time in four years that he's completed the race. We just came to complete."

Contact Will Healey at whealey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.

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