Noah Haynes was the first-place overall finisher, with a time of 19:08. / W.C. Mann
BAILEYTON – When it’s cold and windy, and the rain can’t decide whether to drizzle or pour, what do you do? At Parkside School in Baileyton, they run! On Saturday morning, the bad weather didn’t stop students and adults from gathering for the ninth annual Parkside Pumpkin Run on a 5K course from the school to Baileyton Town Park.
With 91 pre-registrations plus a handful of last-minute sign-ups, the fundraising run had approximately 100 registered participants. As would be expected with the weather, some, as event coordinator and Parkside eighth-grade teacher Tracey Jones put it, “chose the sleep-in option.” Still, around 70 runners actually took to the road to compete for medals, spend time with family and friends, and support the school.
“This is our ninth year to do this,” said Jones. “We use this to raise money for our middle school. We have bought technology for the students; we’re pretty much one-to-one (each student having a computer or tablet to use) in the back hall. We use it to buy programs to help enhance learning, pretty much, just anything the middle school students need.”
This year’s run is expected to raise around $2,500 for Parkside’s 90 middle school students.
Winners
- Noah Haynes was the first-place overall finisher, with a time of 19:08.
- Bijou Phillips was the first-place overall girls’ finisher, with a time of 21:57.
- Ethan Edgeworth, only 11 years old, finished in second place overall.
Event coordinators said a complete list of the top three finishers in each age group, along with times, will be available on the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/parksidepumpkinrun.
Parkside School, according to Jones, has a “great small community feeling. We have great parents, great kids. We are a feeder school into Fairview, and for the last 25 years we’ve had either the valedictorian or the salutatorian that had actually come from Parkside. A good school, we have good, high scores. Our students thrive in this environment, and it shows when they go on to the high school.”
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