Sat, Sep 19, 2026
Merrillville, IN
This race runs through Calumet Park Cemetery, which gives it a setting unlike most local 5Ks. The grounds are quiet and shaded, with paved paths winding among the headstones. It is organized around suicide prevention awareness, and that purpose tends to draw a crowd that is there for something beyond a finishing time. The atmosphere is measured and purposeful.
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Going by the 2025 results, this is a small, friendly field, and the spread of finish times is wide, so this is a mostly recreational race rather than one for club runners.
5K · 2025 results
Top 3: Steven Bugarin (17:31) · Vincent Rinas (17:58) · Edward Malecki (18:37)
The Calumet Park Light the Darkness 5K run has been held every year since at least 2018. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
Enter a finish time to see where it lands against the most recent 5K results.
How we calculate these stats: RunSesh calculates these figures from the most recent published results of past editions, sourced from RunSignup. We show aggregates only: field size, winning and median times, and the cutoff. We never publish individual finisher tables. Last updated Jul 27, 2026.
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Almost certainly not. Half the 5K field finished slower than 34:18, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:01:21, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
It is a small race (108 finishers), which is friendlier and less intimidating than a big-city event, though the field thins out. There is no qualifying time, and the finish-time spread above shows how varied the field really is. If it is your first 5K, that spread matters more than the winner's time.
The 5K winner ran 17:31 while the median finisher took 34:18. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.