By KATELYNN BALL, Staff Reporter
The Northwestern Foundation and Alumni Association and the Wellness Center and staff are hosting the annual Ranger Run on Saturday.
Individuals can save $5 by pre-registering at the Wellness Center for the 5k for $15 and for the 1 mile Fun Run for $10. People can also register the day of the run at 7:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. for the 5k for $20 and for the 1 mile Fun Run for $15.
There are 7 different age groups starting at 12 years old and under, 13 to 19 years old, 20 to 29 years old, 30 to 39 years old, 40 to 49 years old, 50 to 59 years old and 60 years old and up.
Everyone that participates will receive homecoming T-shirts. There are also many awards that will be given away at the Ranger Run. There will be medals and wellness center gift certificates to the top three finishers in each age division. The first overall male and female runners will receive trophies, chamber bucks and certificates. Chamber bucks will also be handed out to the first alumni male and female runners. The Fun Run will also receive awards for the top three in each division.
The faculty and staff the Blue Cross and Blue Shield has pitched in to help as well and is funding $100 gift cards to Brown Shoe Fit to each male and female staff winner and faculty winner. This means a total of $400 up for grabs to any of the Northwestern workers.
Richard Burdick, director of the Wellness Center, said, “We do have a good turn out from previous rangers and alum that do show up to do the race, and it is a cool little thing where everyone can unite and have a ton of different prizes and stuff downtown on the local square.”
As an added bonus Collin Jones from the Human Performance Center will have a tent set up and will be doing soft tissue massages and some assessments for the runners after the race.
Catherine Engelken, Assistant Director, also was interviewed and when asked what students could do to help she said the only thing they would like to see from students is involvement in the race.
Engelken said, “I always like it because it’s a good way to start off homecoming, its early in the morning and you kind of get your work out in for the day and you get to kind of see a different side of Alva. You run from Rialto, up to the high school and then back so if you haven’t been to Alva in a while it’s a cool thing to see and also it ends early enough where you can go home and shower and be back in time for the parade.”
Burdick also added, “We are trying to have as many people as possible involved as we can and it’s something that we are trying to grow in participation. In the last couple of years we have really doubled and tripled some of those numbers and really increased in enrollment.”