The temperatures are warming, the sun is growing brighter, the birdsong is swelling, and the Potomac Valley Audubon Society (PVAS) is holding its 17th-Annual celebration of spring: This Race Is for the Birds! This year’s event will take place on April 14, 2018.
The popular event offers the opportunity to participate in a professionally timed 5K and 10K race or enjoy walking or jogging at one’s own pace. Children under 10 can also join in a free fun run. For the first time, this year’s venue is is Broomgrass Farm—an organic farm community located near Gerrardstown in Berkeley County (WV).
Runners and walkers can enjoy a varied, non-technical cross-country course through farm fields and forests, over well-maintained gravel roads, and along beautiful Back Creek.
Broomgrass Farm joins a generous group of previous hosts who open up their community for this event, thanks to the help of community leader Ryan McCarthy. The farm is a unique community where members can purchase and build a home on the 320-acre property of this 19th-century working organic farm. Much of the course will run through Steel House Farm, which sells pastured meats and eggs in the local community.
— Schedule and fee information are as follows:
7:30-8:45am: Registration and number pick-up
9:00am: Start 5K and 10K trail races and jog/walk
10:45am: Start fun run for children under 10
Photo ©This Race is for the Birds!
— Pre-registration is available at the above link and highly encouraged, as the timed races are limited to 400 registrants. Pre-registration fees (postmarked by 3/31) are: 10K race ($30) and 5K race ($25). Race-day fees are $5 more for both categories. For families, there is a multi-child discount of $5 off for the second and each additional child under 18. The kids’ fun run is free. All adult pre-registrations are guaranteed a commemorative t-shirt; additional t-shirts will be available on race day while supplies last. All fees are tax-deductible.
For 17 years, This Race Is for the Birds! has served as an important fundraiser to support PVAS in its mission to preserve, restore, and enjoy the natural world through education and action. All proceeds support PVAS’s projects, programs, and preserves. The organization now manages four nature preserves spread through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. PVAS hosts a number of educational programs for children and adults, including school science programs, nature-themed summer camps, and the West Virginia Master Naturalist program. A variety of projects seek to conserve land, support local species, and bring people closer to nature.
As well as participants, volunteers are needed to make this event a success. Volunteers can help set up, take race day registrations and hand out t-shirts, serve as course monitors, serve refreshments, clean up, and encourage the participants.
For more information, contact race4birds@potomacaudubon.org.
— ARTICLE SUBMITTED BY: This Race is for the Birds!
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