Sun, Jul 4, 2027
Bryson City, NC
Entry is $42 now and rises to $45 after Jun 4, 2027, so registering before then saves $3.
The course starts and finishes in town, then heads out through the Deep Creek area, which sits at the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Expect rolling terrain through a mountain community rather than a flat road race. The race is part of a full holiday day of activity, with a festival following the run and fireworks after dark.
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Going by the 2026 results, this is a decent-sized field, and the spread of finish times is wide, so this is a mostly recreational race rather than one for club runners.
Top 3: Reed Hagen (16:10) · John Buxton (17:22) · Justin Prendergast (17:40)
Top 3: Jaylan Bark (40:05) · David Feig (41:22) · Bradley Turner (42:02)
The Firecracker 5K/10K has been held every year since at least 2015. 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 Nov 12, 2026.
Set a goal and get a pace band: every mile split on a card sized for your phone lock screen, so race morning needs no math.
Not sure what to aim for? The 5K pace chart lists the pace for every finish time.
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Almost certainly not. Half the 5K field finished slower than 34:24, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:04:53, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
A field of 365 is big enough that you will have company at your pace without feeling lost in a crowd. 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 16:10 while the median finisher took 34:24. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.
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