Crazylegs Classic
The Crazylegs Classic is a spring running and walking event in Madison, Wisconsin. It features an 8-kilometer run and a 2-mile walk, starting at Library Mall on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus and finishing at the Kohl Center. Proceeds go to UW–Madison athletics. The race began in 1982 and is named after Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, a former UW athletic director.
The idea came about in 1981 when Tom Grantham, Ken Sparks, and Rich Backus wanted to raise money for Wisconsin athletics. They asked Hirsch for permission to name the event after him. Grantham remains the general chairman of the Crazylegs Classic.
Hirsch greeted runners at the start and finish from 1981 to 1996. The first race drew 1,525 runners and raised $9,500. A walking option was added in 1987, with 676 walkers that year. The event has grown a lot, hitting a record 20,445 registrants in 2010. Since the start, more than 229,000 people have run or walked the course.
The race has earned several honors, including being named by Runner’s World as one of America’s Best 100 Events and winning the Capital Times/Wisconsin State Journal Reader’s Choice Award for Favorite Local Running Event every year since 1995. In 2002, the Road Runners Club of America named it one of twenty “Great Races! Great Places!” events.
Route changes occurred in 2019 due to new city street-use rules. Before then, the race started near the State Capitol, went down Wisconsin Avenue, moved onto campus over Observatory Drive to Picnic Point, and returned to Camp Randall, ending at the 50-yard line. The course was altered to comply with permit requirements.
The Crazylegs Classic has faced challenging weather, including sleet and high winds in 1988, heavy snow in 1994 and 2019, and a reroute in 1995 when campus events forced a course change that removed Observatory Drive Hill. The event was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic and held virtually in 2021.
In addition to its many years of running, the Crazylegs Classic has honored notable individuals as grand marshals for the race.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:36 (CET).