Description

* UPDATE 2019 *  The race is changing locations on the Fairgrounds!! The Ohio Mennonite 5K and 1K Run - Walk 4 Relief is a 1K and 5K route on the picturesque confines of the beautiful Wayne County Fair Grounds.  It begins and ends on the Fair Grounds at 199 Vanover Street, Wooster, OH 44691. The race will start and end on the North side of the main track, between Gates 3 and 4. Day of the event registration is available.

Please follow the parking instructions and walk (or Run) to the shady, tree line drive on the North side of the grounds. Please ask the parking volunteers where the tent is located AND look for the 1K & 5K race signs. The registration tent is located on the grassy area between Congress, Plain and Canaan streets, near the Lincoln Way West Street (Route 30 in town). The course will be held on a new route from last year. The course is not certified. The course has varying running surfaces: blacktop, a ground track surface and a gravel parking lot. 

We will also be adding a 1K Run event that will be held Before the 5K. For young runners (6-12) or those who would like to walk a 1K distance, please sign up on this website.

This year the race will be highlighting the incredible work of honeybees! In many regions, MCC offers families choices to improve their nutrition. Two of these options are minding honeybees or growing kitchen gardens. Bees make honey but also pollinate the plants in the kitchen gardens. Here is a local example of impact!

        Fawzia, received five beehives through MCC’s and the ZSVP project in February 2015 and now has 16 hives. As her hives multiplied, she not only gave the required two hives back to ZSVP but also, on her own, gave eight more directly to other farmers in her community.     The local core staff – (teachers, engineers and an agriculture professor at a local university) – knew the quality and taste of honey produced in the country was once famous  And that  people were willing to pay a premium for local honey.   That knowledge paid off.   After receiving the beehives and hands-on training through ZSVP and MCC, Fawzia now produces honey that she is able to sell for five times the cost of imported honey in local stores.  Exactly how much?   She is charging $22 for 16 ounces – while mass-market honey costs about $5 an ounce.

As we did last year,  We will not be using plastic water bottles for the 5K or 1K event. The organizers are asking that each participant bring their own water bottle and the participants can fill it before the race. After marking their bottle, the participants will be able to use their bottle at the end of the race. Together, we can decrease the use of plastics in our small part of the world. (In case one has forgotten their water bottle on the counter at home, there will be water bottles available for a small donation at the registration table area.)

ALL PROCEEDS are given to the Mennonite Central Committee to demonstrate God’s love by working to improve living conditions in many communities.