Road racing, in its simplicity, is an individual sport.

It’s a grueling activity that pits the runner against the road, the elements, and his fellow competitors.

But for the 29th edition of the Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic, race director Howard Corcoran and his fellow committee members decided to add a team element to the race.

It’s not a revolutionary idea, but it is new to the Ogden 5K Run & Walk, which will begin on Saturday at 8:15 a.m. in downtown Wheeling.

That new addition is the Ogden Newspapers 5K Team Cup, which Corcoran is hoping will only bolster a continually growing number of participants in the 5K.

‘‘The response has been good,’’ Corcoran explained. ‘‘It’s a new race this year, so its not going to be an instantaneous success, it will take some work.

‘‘But each year we have had double the numbers in the 5K (race) and hopefully, this project will continue that.’’

Each team will consist of five runners, one of whom must be a female runner.

After the race, all five team members’ times will be added together to determine the overall time for each team.

The team with the lowest aggregate time will be proclaimed the victor.

‘‘It’s good because you can get a group of friends or co-workers that can come in an work together as a team,’’ Corcoran said.

There are seven competitive divisions in the team cup, including Education, Service, Business, Industry, High School, College, and Friends & Family.

Each division-winning team will receive a plaque for all five team members.

Also, there will be three cash prizes awarded to the top three overall winning teams in the cup.

The first-place team will receive $150, while second place wins $100 and third place gets $75.

Not large amounts of money by any means, but most people running in the team cup are doing so for the love of running and the sense of competition.

Still, a little added incentive never hurts.

‘‘The money is an unusual addition,’’ Corcoran said. ‘‘Most of the races that sponsor team-cup events don’t have cash awards.’’

Each participant will also receive a Team Cup T-shirt.

While this is the first year for the Team Cup event, it is the third year the 5K Race & Walk itself will be run in conjunction with the well-established 20K event.

And unlike the 20K, which saw a stark redesign in the course layout, the 5K course remains the same.

For the first two miles, the 5K competitors travel the 20K layout.

After that the runners and walkers in the shorter event take a turn to the right on 33rd Street just past Green’s Doughnuts and head toward the Ohio River.

Once on the Wheeling Heritage Trail, the field heads back toward downtown Wheeling.

Near the Main Street Bank, the course takes a loop toward Chapline Street and continues along that route until turning left and heading back down 14th Street to the finish line adjacent to WesBanco Arena.

Corcoran said that he already has quite a few team entrants for the event, but considering the main interest for this race will be on the local level, he is expecting quite a few race-day signups for the Team Cup.