Max King will be making his return to the Pear Blossom Run after a six-year hiatus, when he finished runner-up in 2017 to record-holder Cole Watson.

There’s no denying that Saturday’s 47th annual Pear Blossom Run has the feel of a more tried and true rendition of Southern Oregon’s favorite event for runners.

Two years of virtual racing was thankfully replaced a year ago by runners taking to the downtown streets of Medford, but this year’s expected turnout will be bigger — at around 2,500 runners overall — and potentially better with even more Pear favorites in the field.

“The Pear Blossom Run is one of the largest sporting events in Southern Oregon,” said race director Chuck Whiteley. “Not only do we have the most participants but, in addition to that, we have large crowds that come out to watch the thing. It’s really just a big community event.”

Around 500 runners are expected for the marquee 10-mile Pear Blossom Run, with another 800 racers in the 5-kilometer race and 1,200 expected to take part in the Mayor’s Cup 1-mile and 2-mile fun runs.

The 5K kicks off the running events at 7 a.m., with the 10-mile Pear Blossom Run starting at 8:20 a.m. at Oakdale Avenue and West 8th Street before heading down Main Street and diverting to Hanley Road and back.

“I love to watch the faces of the loved ones rooting on their person,” said Whiteley. “It is just heartwarming. It is the No. 1 fundraiser for the YMCA, too, so it’s important. It does a lot of good for the community.”

Amid all the good times, mind you, is also good competition, and you won’t have to look too hard to find top-tier runners to watch with the return of seven-time champions Max King and Marci Klimek.

King, 43, will be making his first appearance since finishing runner-up to Cole Watson in 2017 after Watson broke the former’s course record in 49 minutes, 5 seconds.

“It’s been a long time so I’m excited to be back,” said King, a former Crater High standout. “This is my hometown race, it’s the classic. I’ve been running it since high school and I just have such a connection to it. I was a Pear Blossom scholarship winner, I’ve won it several times, it’s just the hometown race so that’s always the draw.”

An ultra-marathoner who has competed on the world stage, King had hoped to return to the Pear last year but it conflicted with the Bend marathon being staged in his hometown these days.

The special camaraderie among the running community here in Southern Oregon has made this one of King’s favorite stops over the years.

“This is a race that encapsulates the entire Southern Oregon running community,” he said. “In school, all of my coaches and a lot of my teachers were out there on the course. I remember my old principal was out at one of the aid stations every year, so just things like that are kind of cool.”

King is using Saturday’s race as more training ground as he prepares for the USATF Mountain Running Championships on April 30 in New Hampshire and the USATF Trail Marathon Championships a week later in New York.

His flat-course training, however, has been admittedly a little lacking in comparison to previous years.

“When I was signing up, I was like, man, this is gonna hurt this year,” King said with a laugh. “I’ve been in ski season and ski mode for the past couple of months and not really running very much until about three weeks ago. I’ve been trying to switch over into run mode knowing that I have this and some other stuff coming up later in April.

“I haven’t been running a ton but I’ll make it through,” he added, “it just won’t be particularly quick this year. My fitness is good, it’s just my running legs aren’t there. I’ve been working back into that pounding that running does. And as I get older, too, it’s more and more pounding on the body and stress on the body.”

Last year’s 10-mile men’s race champion Gabe Loader, a former cross-country and distance runner at Southern Oregon University, was not registered as of Thursday evening but there’s no telling if that will hold up. Loader entered the 2022 race less than 12 hours before runners were to toe the starting line, and went on to win in his debut by more than five minutes with a time of 50:34.

Whiteley said Watson even hinted that he may be in line to return to the field, but Whiteley wasn’t anticipating that return since the former Rogue River High star has been focusing more on trail running these days.

Klimek, 35, returns as the women’s favorite after setting a course record in the 10-mile women’s race last year in 56:45 — breaking her previous mark set in 2015 by 18 seconds. Her seventh title came in her first running of the event in five years.

The Talent resident said she can’t be confident she will be able to chase down her own record and rewrite history yet again on Saturday. Similar to King, Klimek hasn’t exactly had the typical build-up to running the Pear after tripping during a run on the Bear Creek Greenway in January and straining her hamstring.

“I went back and couldn’t even find the little blip that I tripped over,” she said, still marveling over the oddity to this day. “Sooner or later, I guess, if you’re out there every day you’re going to end up doing something. It wasn’t a big deal, I just had to take a little break from running.”

Klimek said she’s had a solid month of normal running and built back up to the mileage she had previously been running when she last raced for Cascadia Elite in December during the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in San Francisco.

She had been planning for an active April that included the Eugene Marathon but opted to air on the side of caution and will forgo that race.

“The one that I wasn’t quite ready to cancel was the Pear,” she said. “I really wanted to see if I could find a way to get back. If there was any way that I could run it, I was going to make it happen.”

Klimek’s record outing last year was spurred on by Logan Pine, who ran alongside her to keep her pace up and eventually ended up finishing third in the men’s race. This year, Klimek plans on running without a watch and simply winging it.

“There’s going to be plenty of people to run with again,” she said. “I’m honestly just looking forward to being out there. The race has such good energy and it’s just such a fun event, you never know (if a record could be set). Maybe the weather will be great and everything will go really well. Regardless, this is probably my favorite event that I do so it’s something I look forward to every year. I’m just so happy that I’m going to be able to be out there with everybody.”

Klimek pointed to the presence of another former SOU standout distance runner — Kayla Clayton — as a key figure to watch in the women’s field as she builds up to the Eugene Marathon.

“I think Kayla is obviously very talented and I’m really excited to see what she’ll do out there,” said Klimek of Clayton, who recorded the third-fastest 10K in SOU history at this time last year with a time of 36:58.16. “She just graduated and is moving up to the longer distances so I anticipate that she’ll run really well. Selfishly, I’m really excited to see her out there representing our local folks.”

That kind of challenge is what excites Klimek, who is more than happy to hand her crown over to the next line of local runners — but won’t just be giving it away.

“I think I’m going to really have to work for it this year, which makes it fun,” said the reigning champion. “That will be enjoyable to have to dig in there and do some real racing Saturday. And you never know who else is going to show up so I’m totally ready to do my best and try to go for another title, but it might be a battle. I’m looking forward to it.”