Beautiful Autumn weather welcomed the 150 or so friends of CHOICES who came out to the 5K Run / Walk for Life. WayFM provided music and Outside In Inflatables made some tots pretty happy with two bounce houses. Though teams enjoyed the company of other teams, there was quite a bit of “friendly” competition to see who could raise the most pledges. The Holy Walkamoles from Lincoln Hills Christian Church pulled out the victory with $3,754 in donations, led by the effervescent Patti Coleman (first place in personal donations) with $3,144 collected and teammate Jennifer Rogers (third place in personal) with $589.95. The second-place team was a surprise, come-from-behind group from Corydon Baptist Church, raising $1,340. Pfrimmer’s Chapel brought home third place with a respectable $768. The number two individual fundraiser with $2,143 was one of our talented Client Advocates, Lydia Borengasser. You can read about the reasons why she loves CHOICES in her blog at www.journeyoftheword.com. Last year was a record for donations and this year hasn’t fallen far behind with $19,940 turned in so far. Some individuals have generous outstanding pledges, so we expect to come close to our $25,000 record set in 2017.
This was our 14th Walk and first ever 5K. There were 29 folks who showed up to “run the race set before them.” The overall winner for the men was Jarin Bailey (17:58) and ladies Suzi O’Shea (23:17.) In the 14 and under group, Reece O’Shea won for the guys and Sarah Borengasser won the girls. In the 15-19 age group, Jarin was the only guy and Grace Ulaszek (30:28) won for the ladies. Evan Manias (25:07) took home the prize in the 20-29 age group (while pushing his daughter in the stroller). Rachel Huster (26:42) won in this age group of ladies. In the 40-49 category, John O’Shea (20:16) won for the guys and Tanya Crouse (26:42) won for the ladies. Tony Alstott (24:21) was the winner in the 50-59 age group and Tammy Hogan represented the ladies in this category. Sandy Vaughn, the person who inspired and coordinated our first Walk for Life in 2005, won the 60+ age group. We are grateful for the participation and look forward to expanding this aspect of our annual event next year.
