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SPORTS

Running Shorts: Firefighters, police behind Saturday's 5Ks

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
(Updated 7:48 am)

Chief Tim Bellamy's in. Everybody else needs to fall in line, too.

Bellamy, the Greensboro police chief, is expected to be among the runners in the 20th annual Law Enforcement Memorial 5K on Saturday morning in downtown Greensboro.

The road race, in honor of officers killed in the line of duty, benefits the Special Olympics of North Carolina. Several Special Olympics athletes will help get the race started and distribute awards.

Last year's field of 254 entrants raised $3,080 for Special Olympics, says Sherry Bruscino, the race director and a detective for the Greensboro Police Department. The 2009 field was the largest in the event's history. Bruscino says early registration normally totals about 100 but is just past 150 for Saturday's race.

"I think it's going to be a big year," she says.

The 3.1-mile race will start at 8:30 a.m. at Greene Street and February One Place. The course will wind through UNCG and loop around the Blandwood area before returning to the Phill G. McDonald Plaza. Race-day registration, with a fee of $25, will begin at 7:30 a.m.

Volunteers with the Guilford Merchants Association, a co-sponsor with the police department, will help with timing and at water stops.

5K in High Point

Charities in support of police and firefighters will be the beneficiaries of a road race Saturday in High Point.

The High Point Firefighters Charity Association 5K is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., starting at 149 Church Ave. A one-mile fun run will begin at 8. The course is out-and-back along Ferndale Boulevard and Rockford Road.

The firefighters charity is the VIP for a VIP program, which educates teens in schools about dangers behind the wheel such as driving while impaired, texting and other distractions and aggressive driving.

The police charity is the Officer Down Memorial Fund, which provides financial assistance to families of law enforcement officials who die in the line of duty.

Donations to both charities are tax-deductible and can be made through their web sites, vipforavip.com and officerdownmemorialfund.com

Fewer, but good, options

The field of 5Ks on May 22 is narrowing.

The Pleasant Garden 5K Run, Walk and Roll has been moved to 8 a.m. Sept. 25 to give organizers more time to find volunteers and sponsors. The event will benefit the Fun for All playground at Hagan Stone Park.

The 2010 Liberty 5K has been postponed indefinitely. Organizer Ray Coggin says interest was limited, but he's hoping to still schedule a race.

But that still leaves three good ones on the calendar: The Running of the Green 5K in Greensboro, the Spring Folly 5K in Kernersville and the Run the Ridge 5K in Oak Ridge.

GO FAR results

Jeremy Cronin, a 12-year-old from High Point, won the GO FAR 5K in his hometown on Saturday.

Cronin covered the 3.1 miles in 20 minutes and 10 seconds, a pace of 6:30 per mile.

Blair Ramsey, 12, the winner of the Human Race 5K in Greensboro in March, was second in 20:45.

Cronin is a seventh-grader at Southwest Middle. Ramsey is in the sixth grade at Guilford Middle.

GO FAR is an after-school fitness program developed by Robin Lindsay of High Point.

Contact Eddie Wooten at 373-7093 or eddie.wooten@news-record.com

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