Steamboat Springs — There certainly are larger races in the Steamboat Springs Running Series. The Steamboat Marathon, for instance, attracted nearly 2,000 people a month ago.

There are more important races, too. Saturday's Steamboat Sprint didn't earn winners any points in the season-long championship race.

There's no race that can offer a spotlight like Saturday's, however.

Thousands of spectators lined Lincoln Avenue, waiting after the skate skiing portion of the Rocky Mountain Division Ski Jumping Extravaganza had wrapped up and before the annual July 4 parade started. Racers in the Steamboat Sprint took full advantage, flying down the course in front of a crowd a regular series event will never see.

"We just love it," regular Steamboat Sprint racer Stuart Geer said, catching his breath after he placed first in his age division.

He paused for a moment, keeping an eye out for his three children, also running the 400-yard race.

"This is awesome," he said. "The crowd really cheers you and brings you along."

Kerry Lofy isn't a regular on the Running Series circuit, but he didn't miss his chance to perform in front of the crowd. He, too, won his division, crossing the finish line with a flair unseen anywhere else in the race.

He wore a tight lime green swimsuit. It appeared to be meant for a woman in a mid-February edition of Sports Illustrated, but it is better known as the suit Sacha Baron Cohen tucked into in "Borat."

Lofy added a pair of bike shorts to make the whole outfit family appropriate.

"I used to run in high school and got a scholarship to go to college but decided to ski instead," Lofy said.

The final touch was an American flag, pinned like a cape around his back.

"This flag helped me run faster," he said.

Lofy wasn't the only one to incorporate the spirit of the day into the race.

Lilly Geer, a 10-year-old in town from Boulder with her family, said Steamboat's July 4 festivities are a tradition in her family and that she's run the race every year she's been old enough.

This year, she donned a red, white and blue crown, and it waved in the wind as she sprinted to finish second in her division.

"It's really exciting," she said. "You start to run, then you see all the people running around you. It's kind of like a big game of tag."

The points-awarding section of the Running Series returns today with the Mountain Madness event. The day includes a 1-kilometer children's race, a 10-kilometer run and a 13.1-mile half marathon. The race starts at 8 a.m. at Howelsen Ice Arena.