By Tiffany L. Rehbein
Running enthusiasts, tighten your laces. The first annual Have a Good Run/Walk will be held Saturday at Montana State University-Northern.
The run is a fund raiser to help Athletes Competing for Charity, a 12-member crew comprised of runners from Havre and Seattle, raise money for the Hood to Coast Relay Race that will be held in September.
The goal of Saturdays run, in addition to raising money, is to turn running into a sport for anyone, any age, said Lisa Hopewell, relay race runner.
It will be nice to get an organization going in helping turn this into a sport for everyone, Hopewell said.
Hopewell, Pam Barnett, Trina Muller, Dave Crossley, Tim Ranes, Chad Spangler and Christian Oberquell are the runners from Havre who will be competing in the Oregon relay race in September.
They will meet with the five Seattle-based runners at Mt. Hood in Oregon. The runners became interested in organized runs, especially the Hood to Coast run, about two years ago when ABC Sports aired the race.
We laughed and said, Oh, yeah, we should do that, Hopewell said.
In their second year traveling to Oregon, the runners decided to spark local interest by holding their own run.
It will help decrease the cost of the trip, Hopewell said. She added that the entry fee alone for the 195 mile relay is $600.
That is a far cry from the $12 registration fee for the fun run on Saturday. Runners can choose between a three mile or one mile race. Race day registration begins at 7 a.m. with the three milers lining up at 8 a.m. and the one milers at 9 a.m.
The start and finish of the race will be at the MSU-N 11th Street East entrance. Beginning today, race shirts can be picked up at Altec Graphics. Pre-registration and other shirts can be picked up from 6-9 p.m. at Northwinds Athletic Club on Friday.
