About the Dash & Splash 5K
The course starts and finishes at the Palestine YMCA, near the pool entrance, and the route loops back to the same gates where you began. The draw for a lot of people is what happens after: there is an optional polar plunge once you cross the finish, which makes for a loud, chaotic cluster around the pool area on a cold New Year's morning.
Packet pickup runs the day before at the YMCA, with an early race-morning option as well. The start area is right at the pool gates, so there is not much ground to cover between picking up your bib and lining up.
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Finish-Time Stats
Going by the 2026 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.
3.1 Miles · 2026 results
85finishers
18:27winner
36:01median
1:02:15cutoff
Top 3: Nation Thompson (18:27) · OLIVER TERRELL (18:32) · eddy Ramirez (20:55)
The Dash & Splash 5K has been held every year since at least 2025. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
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.
Distances & Start Times
3.1 Miles1/1/2027 09:00$30
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