Friends of the Bear Paw Marathon are seeking help with preparing and serving its all-you-can-eat spaghetti and baked potato banquet on Friday, June 3, at the Eagles Club in Havre.

The pre-marathon race-day meal has been shown to provide runners and their loved ones with a number of advantages.

The runners will benefit with the extra store of readily available carbohydrate-fueled energy and improved hydration on race day. They and their families will also have the opportunity to get acquainted with other like-minded folk and what to expect on race day.

Local participants can reconnect with other runners whose training hours may conflict with their own. A renewed interest in the advantages of having training partners that can lead to improved times and distances can evolve. Perhaps local diners will also come to consider forming or joining a local running club involved in creating and sponsoring area road races that can help keep them sharp throughout the year.

The benefits are numerous.

This year’s banquet is being dedicated to the memory of long-time road racer and race director Ignatius George “Iggy” Stiffarm of Fort Belknap. Stiffarm created the longest lasting road race in northcentral Montana, the Mosquito Run/Nee Wah’s Run, which has been held for each of the last 40 years as a Saturday morning mainstay of the annual Milk River Indian Days and Fort Belknap Powwow.

Stiffarm competed in road races throughout the Pacific Northwest, often taking age-group title at runs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and particularly Montana, prior to being sidelined by ALS. He was a friend to all during the running boom of the 1980s and ‘90s that resulted in numerous races in and around Havre, many sponsored by Dorothy Jarvis and others by the Northern Montana College Outdoor Activities program.

The evening will include presentations by three of America’s premier distance runners from the 1980s and ‘90s who got their start in Hill and Chouteau counties.

People interested in volunteering are encouraged to attend an organizational meeting at 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 22, at the Eagles Club. Those who are unable to attend the meeting but would like to help are asked to leave their name and contact information at the Eagles.