5K Run/Walk set for August 30

by Wanda Combs
Editor

Over 50 have registered for the Town of Floyd 5K Run/Walk to be held this Saturday, and organizer Dawn Weeks said more are expected to sign up on the day of the event. “Response has been really positive.”
The Run/Walk, which will benefit research at Duke Medical Center and take participants on a 3.1 mile loop through the town, will begin near the high school baseball field at 8:30 a.m. Registration will be held that morning until 8:15. Plaques will be given for overall first, second and third place winners for men and overall first, second and third place winners for women. The plaques, made by students in FCHS teacher Jim Kline’s materials and process class last spring, are designed in the shape of Floyd County.
Also, the first, second and third place winners in each age group will receive a medal.
All participants will be given a t-shirt.
This is the Town’s first such event, and it is not to be the last; however, Weeks said the date – on Labor Day weekend – is flexible and could possibly not be the same in 2009. In addition to the holiday, that particular weekend also finds many travelers using county roads to get to the Hillsville flea market.
Weeks told the Press she expects the “winner” will complete the course in a 17-18 minute time frame. Everyone is being asked to finish by 9:30.
Looking at the participant list, Weeks said mostly local residents are participating, but one of the first registrants was an Ohio resident.
Glenn Altizer has assisted Weeks, and a planning committee of Laura Cantrell, Leon Hubbard, and Rainey and Ann Houston have also helped to put together the project.
The night before the event, on the evening of the first home football game, there will be a benefit spaghetti dinner for the same cause. The “Community Pasta Meal” will be served from 5:00 until 7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Donations will be accepted.
Weeks said the planners thought the pasta meal would be a good lead-in to the Run/Walk on Saturday.
Volunteers will be working at intersections on Saturday. The Sheriff’s Office is also providing a deputy; the rescue squad will follow the last person.
From the high school, participants will go by the elementary school, turn right on Woods Gap, left on Barberry Street, right on Main Street, left on Oxford, enter Sumpter Circle and loop around that residential section, then return to Oxford, turn right on to Locust, left on Penn Avenue, left on Nira Street, left on Main Street, right at the traffic light, left at Baker Street, and continue to the finish line near the Career and Technical Center parking lot.
Registration forms are available at samefight.org or at the town manager’s office at 138 Wilson Street.