SPOTSWOOD–Earning more than $1,500 from its annual “5K Fun Run,” the borough’s Recreation Commission will donate the proceeds to the Spotswood High School cross-country and tennis teams.
“Spotswood is a very small community and the Spotswood Recreation Department sponsors the yearly 5K Fun Run event to inspire our residents to get out and participate. Registrations were down about 10 percent from last year and I’m sure the rain was a big factor,” said Paul Wasserman, director of event.
More than 115 residents participated on Sept. 8, beginning and finishing on Sloan Road.
“Despite the rain, we still had over 100 5K runners and about 20 Fun Runners, so I was happy with the turnout. We don’t have all the bells and whistles of a big race, but we [did] have RFID tags, a professional timer, food, race shirts, a deejay, three water stations including a water station run by local boy scouts, police and EMT assistance, trophies, medals and some giveaway prizes at the end.
“One great thing about a small town race is that almost everyone knows each other and we all cheer for our friends and neighbors,” Wasserman said of his 11th year organizing the event. “I enlisted the help of about 20 volunteers, past and present recreation board members and their families. For a small group, I think we do a pretty good job running the fun run and 5k race.”
The Spotswood Borough Council approved a resolution authorizing the commission to donate the proceeds from the race to the Spotswood teams on Nov. 7. the cross-country program will receive $1,193, while the tennis program will receive $795.
“With all of our volunteers having strong ties back to our schools, this motivates us to continue putting on the event year after year,” Wasserman said. “So the best parts of the race are having a quality outdoor event available for our residents to participate in and being able to give additional support to our kids’ programs.”
Wasserman said the cross-country teams will use the funds to hire transportation buses to bring the teams to out of state events. He said he has not been informed as to what the tennis teams will use the funds for.
“As part of our support for high school athletes, we allow them to participate in the 5K free of charge. Some years ago I was talking with the high school track coach and we both agreed that it wasn’t fair for athletes to win awards over our residents and other participants,” Wasserman said. “So what I do is create a separate category of winners just for high school athletes. The top three male and female high school times will win medals, specially inscribed for the high school athletes.”
For more information, visit www.spotswoodrec.com.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].