It’s May and we hope you know what that means… our favorite event is on the horizon and the stoke factor is high. Park City’s most popular fundraiser & sporting event for the past eight years, “Running With Ed,” is scheduled for May 21 (rain or shine or snow!) from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and promises to be another day full of fun and frolic benefitting special programs within our schools. Now in its 13th year, our goal is to raise $320,000 which is a moderate 6.3% increase over last year’s record breaking tally of $300,000. Park City, we can do this!!!
The Grenney clan/Team Average Joe’s in 2021
Little known fact: 96% of our Summit County tax dollars leave our school district. PCEF funds eight key initiatives which are Preschool, EVA Elementary Visual Art program, after school, STEM, PCCAPS (Park City Center for Advanced Professional Studies), Bright Futures, The Educator Innovation Lab, and Classroom/Express Grants. The Classroom Grants program covers at least 30 different educator ideas every year. As an example, two long-term Classroom Grants programs are PCHS Robotics and Debate.
Last year all Debate competitions were done online, and Robotics was in person, which was super tricky given all the COVID restrictions, yet both programs flourished. The top PCHS Robotics team won Worlds with a record-breaking score, and Debate sent six students to Nationals last summer. Five of those students received Academic All-America awards. For PCHS Debate, this was unprecedented and extremely rare for a public high school. I’m encouraging my two daughters to pursue the STEM track in school, focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math so these huge results warm my heart.
Mad Scientists teachers honored funding for STEM programs. STEM is the nationwide acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering & Math programs.
While we all know Park City residents are arguably the worst when it comes to RSVP’s (any dinner party host would agree) as well as early registrations, we’re very optimistic that as of this week, we have nearly 1,000 registrants of our total expected participants size of 1,200. Please consider creating a team and registering before the race on May 21st. Register and learn more deets here.
The Basin Fieldhouse is headquarters again for this celebratory relay race. The event is structured to appeal to runners and non-runners alike, with varying relay lengths and associated degree of challenge. It’s one of two of Park City Education Foundation’s fundraisers of the year and thanks to the generous support of the event’s sponsors, your donation dollars are stretched even further. Huge thanks to both Intermountain Healthcare and Park City Mountain Resort for their significant 2022 sponsorships as well as all the other local supporters. I even jumped into the sponsorship mix!
RWE is not about the speed of the race but rather a fun, full day of fundraising embracing the importance our community places on education, with open arms for participants of all skill levels. I love that my whole family can participate, and whether you choose siblings, neighbors, co-workers or hobby groups, you’re encouraged to form a team, have some fun, and support our kids, teachers and schools.
As the co-chair again this year for the 4th year running (no pun intended), I am always so amazed to see this generous community come out in droves to support education. The creativity of costumes floors me every year. Whether it’s stripes and tutus, a play on words, or running robots, PC knows how to get it done in style. And who doesn’t get a kick out of the silliness of the fans lining the course who are sometimes known to break out the silly string or water guns to cheer on the participants?
Community collaboration and contributions is what it’s all about.
The 26.4-mile relay course offers everything from trail to gravel to pavement, challenging climbs to fast downhills, easy legs for beginners and tough ones for experts. Winding past Olympic venues, iconic landmarks, and neighborhood schools, this is Park City’s best! Here’s this year’s relay breakdown with our notations:
Leg 1 – 3.0 Miles – Basin Recreation Field house to Jeremy Ranch Elementary (flat & easy)
Leg 2 – 1.6 Miles – Jeremy Ranch Elementary to Ecker Hill Middle School (perfect for skippers and walkers, easy peasy)
Leg 3 – 3.5 Miles – Ecker Hill Middle School to the Base of the Utah Olympic Park Ski Jumps (a bit more challenging)
Leg 4 – 5.7 Miles – Base of the UOP Ski Jumps to Parley’s Park Elementary School (the MONSTER leg, which includes running UP the ski jump steps! Save this one for your most serious, hard-core athlete team member)
Leg 5 – 4.5 Miles – Parley’s Park Elementary School to McPolin Elementary School (perfect for your endurance participant)
Leg 6 – 1.3 Miles – McPolin Elementary School to Treasure Mountain Jr High School (nice & flat & easy)
Leg 7 – 4.4 Miles – Treasure Mountain Jr High School to Trailside Elementary School (an endurance leg with some trail running)
Leg 8 – 2.4 Miles – Trailside Elementary School to Basin Recreation Fieldhouse – (The most scenic leg, capturing that BIG VIEW!)
Top fundraisers will be rewarded with tickets, swag, and unique Park City gifts, all donated in support of this great cause.
Hope to see you and your costumed-clad team out on the course this year!