Sweat, hills and running shoes were the ingredients for the U’s annual Homecoming
5K race Saturday morning.
Spectators lined Central Campus Drive to watch the runners and cheer on fellow U fans as they ran from the Alumni House, through lower campus, past the Marriott Library and the Huntsman Center to North Campus Drive and back.
“I’ve done this race about three times,” said Annalisa Rausch, a former student working to get into the U’s social work master’s program. “A lot of people come out, and it’s a good way to have school spirit.”
The Homecoming race is held each year to raise money for scholarships that are given out at the Spring Awards Banquet in April to U students in undergraduate and graduate programs, students working on special projects and non-traditional students, said Addie
Maudsley, a member of the Young Alumni Board.
The race has been a Homecoming staple for more than 15 years. This year was the most successful, with 655 people registering compared to the 430 who registered last year, Maudsley said.
Last year’s race raised $29,000, and although the final numbers won’t be available until October, Jeremy Barlow, president of the Young Alumni Board, said they have counted at least $25,000 so far from race registration fees and sponsor donations. As an incentive to participate, two $500 scholarships were awarded during a raffle and two $1,000 scholarships were given to the student groups with the most members registered for the race, Barlow said.
Joshua Burton, a freshman in pre-medical lab science, and Jonathan Ellis, a junior in Chinese, won the $500 scholarships to use for the Spring 2010 semester, and the department of exercise and sport science and Beta Alpha Phi8212;the accounting school’s honor society8212;won the $1,000 scholarships.
Whitney Wellington, a senior in exercise and sport science, was there to support her department.
“I wanted to support the alumni, and I wanted to give back to the school,” she said.
Along with the scholarships, the Young Alumni Board awarded gift certificates, watches from O.C. Tanner Jewelers and running clothes to the first-place male and female racers. Other prizes included gift certificates to various restaurants and athletic stores around the valley as well as medals, key chains and Skullcandy headphones. The board awarded these to winners in the different age divisions and to the two most outrageous U fans who dressed in red from head to toe.
Brandon Riley, vice president of the Young Alumni Board, deemed the race a success this year.
“We’re going straight up the mountain next year,” Riley said.