Charity races moving up ranks of popularity
BY ROB ROSE FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE

Have you ever experienced a moment when clarity suddenly comes to a muddled situation? When all the pieces come together to form the entire picture?

I experienced something akin to an epiphany recently when I saw two Kenyans on a training run while cycling in Valley Forge National Park in Pennsylvania. You remember the Kenyans. They used to come to Attleboro High School, from their training base in southeastern Pennsylvania, on the first Sunday in October to compete in the Ro-Jack's race and collect big prize money. But Ro-Jack's has been gone for years and I now realize that my Kenyan encounter put into perspective a transition that I failed to recognize ... until now.

A new order has arrived with new races, new faces, new purposes and as a consequence, some of the old has been ushered out.

Change can sometimes be hard to detect when it occurs over a protracted period of time; it can be imperceptible. It's the loud disruptive occurrences that get your attention. A few of those have happened recently.

In May, the Attleboro YMCA ousted assistant executive director Bob Withers, who was also the race director of the Y's road races.

If the YMCA continues with the races in 2010, they will do it without the institutional knowledge of one of the most experienced race directors in New England. It will be different with a new face at the helm.

There will be a Wrentham Wroad Wrace this Saturday. For most people that will come as a surprise because there has been virtually no publicity, no advertising, no race applications leading up to their 25th anniversary road race. That will have a detrimental impact on attendance. For a race that has been staple for a generation of runners, it may have trouble breaking 50 runners this time.

Finally, the Billy Kelly races won't be held this November. Race director Keith Purrier canceled the event because he would need to pay for police details. In prior years, this had been funded through a community policing grant. Purrier's races were among the best in the area, extremely popular, drawing over 500 runners in recent years. Many runners will be very unhappy when they learn that this one has slid into oblivion.

Three of the oldest races in the area will be dramatically changed, with two of the area's most seasoned race directors gone. Nothing stands still forever. When there's a void, new players always move in.

For me, the face of the new wave has to be the Butterfly 5K. It debuted three years ago in the most inauspicious time frame imaginable, late August. Conventional thinking would say, heat, vacations, summer lassitude would sink this North Attleboro endeavor. But last month they had 500 finishers as they continue to expand their field each year. The race supports the Julia Cekala Charitable Foundation and it's mission is the maintenance and expansion of Julia's Garden and Playground located at the WWI Memorial Park.

This past Saturday, the inaugural Jamie Fund 5K was held at Mansfield High School ... on Labor Day weekend. Conventional thinking would say ... but the race drew 336 finishers who poured out to support a local. The Jamie Fund was organized by Mansfield's Kim Piro for her daughter Jamie, who has autism. The charity attempts to promote acceptance of special needs individuals through education and awareness programs.

Those two, along with the Foxboro Diabetes 5K, form a troika of races with a common thread. A fundraiser for a cause, centered around a local individual, that a large number of town residents rally to and support through attendance and dollars. Foxboro, Mansfield and North Attleboro have struck a winning cord with three of the top four local races in attendance. In the future, will other towns look to emulate this template?

One new race looming on the horizon 10 months away, has the potential to be a blockbuster, but doesn't follow the charity theme. Race director Mike St. Laurent is still working out the details and getting approvals but the plan is to have a 10K on July 4, 2010 that starts and finishes at Gillette Stadium. St. Laurent hopes to draw 10,000 for the first year, an ambitious goal. At this point, it doesn't look as if significant prize money will be offered in 2010. Perhaps it will in later years, if the event achieves the success that one would expect from something associated with the Patriots organization.

Then maybe those two Kenyans, Samuel Ndereba and Linus Maiyo, will make an appearance in the Attleboro area to compete.

Then I'll need another epiphany to discern that the old new has become the new old.

ROB ROSE is a running columnist for The Sun Chronicle and can be reached via email at LSXPLRER@comcast.net