Running With Ed participants of all ages dressed in costumes while doing the relay of the Park City School District schools and the Basin Rec Fieldhouse. Photo: Michele Roepke
PARK CITY, Utah — 1,200 runners participated in the Park City Education Foundation’s (PCEF) 13th annual Running With Ed. (RWE) relay race on Saturday. They ran relays among the Park City School District’s four elementary schools, middle school, junior high, and high school while starting and ending the race at the Basin Rec Fieldhouse.
Mostly sunny skies and a slight, consistent breeze delighted organizers, volunteers, and runners compared to the spring snowstorms with which they’ve had to contend in many previous years.
The priority of the day was less about getting the fastest time and more about raising the most money. Many categories were available to achieve the goal of raising $320,000. Heidi Donovan, PCEF Finance Manager told me, “Thanks to the whole community which really stepped it up this year, we were able to meet our goal today raising over $325,000, ensuring that we can fund the eight key initiatives for the next school year.”
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The eight key initiatives are:
Preschool
Elementary Visual Arts
Afterschool
STEM
Center For Advanced Professional Studies (PCCAPS)
Bright Futures
Classroom/Express Grants
Innovation Labs
The RWE Best Exchange Award went to:
Parley’s Park Elementary School
The Top RWE Fundraiser Award went to:
Christine Grenney from Grenney Real Estate who raised $31,000
The Top Student RWE Fundraiser Award went to:
Trevor Shaw from Jeremy Ranch Elementary School who raised $4,000 which was twice his goal and proudly told me, “I did this when I was in 5th grade but in nine more school days I’m graduating elementary school and moving on to middle school.”
The Park City Mountain Vail Resorts Epic Promise Grants were awarded to the school with the highest participation:
First place – Trailside Elementary School
Second place – Jeremy Ranch Elementary School
Third place – McPolin Elementary School
The Best Costume Awards went to:
First place – The Cutties for their ice hockey uniforms
Second place – The McPolin Elementary School Zombies for their zombie costumes
Third place – Troup Beverly Hills/Park City for their Girl Scout uniforms
Olympic Announcer Carl Roepke was the announcer for RWE and the finish line party offered music, food, beverages, face painting, bounce houses, chair massages, t-shirts, and a photo booth, made available from some of the 34 local sponsors.
RWE is the largest of PCEF’s three annual fundraisers:
Running With Ed
Beat The Call
Red Apple Gala
Some of the clever team names included:
Running From Rona
bRUNching
Not Fast, Just Furious
Run Like The Winded
Will Run For Snacks
Run EMC
Multiple people ran the 26.4-mile race solo like Park City Ski and Snowboard (PCSS) Events Director and Mountain Trail Racer Pete Stoughton as well as three-time Cross Country Ski Olympian and PCSS Nordic Coach Liz Stephen. Saturday’s race saw teachers, staff, students, parents, and the community-at-large running, volunteering, and/or donating.
L to R: Treasure Mountain Jr. High’s RWE sponsor General Manager of Switchback Sports Bobby Monson, PTO President Anne Owen, Head Secretary Bev Pacal, and RWE D.J. Nate Dawg. Photo: Michele RoepkeL to R: Trailside Elementary School’s Head Secretary Megan Luckan, Parent Volunteer Dawn Pencil, Outreach Coordinator Eva Montejano, and Trailside alumni/volunteer Niko ZarkosEcker Hill Middle School teachers, staff, students and parents including Principal Amy Jenkins. Photo: Michele RoepkeMcPolin Elementary RWE parent volunteers, L to R: Nikki Nelmark, Kelley Mugford, Brooke George, and Gabby Cohen. Photo: Michele Roepke1st place winners of the RWE costume contest: The Cutties Hockey Players. Photo: Michele Roepke2nd place winners of the RWE costume contest: The McPolin Elementary Zombies. Photo: Michele Roepke3rd place winners of RWE costume contest: Troup Beverly Hills. Photo: Michele RoepkePark City Mountain Vail Epic Promise Grant winners from Trailside Elementary including RWE volunteer Grant Manager Allison Zarkos. Photo: Michele RoepkeL to R: PCEF RWE Event Director, Jennifer Billows, RWE Top Fundraiser, Christine Grenney, and RWE Fundraising Chairwoman, Kammi Ward. Photo: Michele RoepkeBeijing 2022 Olympic medalist, Youth Sports Alliance athlete, and Jeremy Ranch Elementary alumni Casey Dawson seated front and center with his medal among the Hawks Harmonics student choir. Photo: Michele RoepkeL to R: Treasure Mountain Jr. High students Jeremiah Marsh, Root Roepke, Tory Hoffman, and Liam Snyhoruich at the Utah Olympic Park. Some of them were on the PCSS #2 Team which timed themselves at an approximate 3:42:00 fast finish passing at least 60 runners. Photo: Michele RoepkeGold medal-winning Olympian, Billy Demong, and Park City Ski and Snowboard (PCSS) Nordic coach Emma Garrard, and members of the PCSS Nordic team including Donovan Toly and Liam Demong.Trailside Elementary Teacher, Jennifer Giblin and her husband, Patrick, at the Utah Olympic Park. Photo: Michele RoepkeOlympic announcer, Carl Roepke. Photo: Michele RoepkeAdaptive athlete Sylvie Boulva and her teammate at Ecker Hill Middle School. Photo: Michele RoepkeL – R: parley’s Park Elementary fifth graders Julia Aramark and Ellie Wheelwright and Ellie’s mom who has been the P.E. teacher for 20 years, Jennifer Wheelwright with their trophy for Best Exchange. Photo: Michele RoepkeTrevor Shaw, the top student fundraiser and Kammie Ward the RWE Fundraising Chairwoman. Photo: Michele Roepke
I've lived in Park City for 30 years but right off the starting line, my journalism professors expressed plaudits after class for writing more so about the small-town sports in the surrounding mountains than the urban updates they assigned. Therefore, I’m on par punning and penning Parkites' pastimes. Turning high and early through my career, I’ve worked communications for The Olympics, the Paralympics and the Special Olympics. Additionally, there's been National Geographic, Patagonia, NCAA, USA Nordic and the United States Library of Congress, so I guess you could say this ain't my first rodeo.
