Montour Trail-Letter

Volume 12, Issue 6

November/December, 2001

For the second year in a row, over 1,000 persons registered for the IKEA- Montour Trail 1/2 Marathon and 5k Run and Walk, held this year on September 8.

The race, now in its sixth year, has raised thousands of dollars for the Montour Trail. In addition to providing gift certificates for the top finishers and covering much of the race expenses, IKEA also supplied an excellent crew of volunteers led by Sandy Grentz.

The winners of the 1/2 Marathon were Laura Hruby (women's division) in 1:22:07 and Dan Lesser (men's division) in 1:11:15. The high humidity was the main reason why the winning times were somewhat slower than last year.

The winners of the 5K were Jennifer Mandril in 18:20 and Paul Friedrich in 15:21.

To the good fortune of our runners, Jim O'Keefe, a Coca-Cola marketing director, asked Tom Daily (co-owner of Burgh's Pizza and Wing Pub in Bridgeville and a member of our race committee) if he knew of a race where they could test-market some new sports drinks. Tom suggested the IKEA-Montour Trail event, Jim agreed, and as a result our runners and walkers were treated to POWERade at water stations and POWERade Light and Dasani water at the finish line.

Major sponsors for the race were Computer Associates, Eagle Physical Therapy, Elite Runners and Walkers, Kaufmann's, Ohio Valley General Hospital, Robinson Town Centre, and Ventana Hills Apartment Homes. In-kind services were provided by Great Harvest Bread, Interstate Communications and Electronics, and the Salvation Army.

The event couldn't take place without the support of the police departments and emergency services. Our special thanks go out to the Police Departments of Findlay, Moon, North Fayette, and Robinson Townships and the emergency medical services from Mercy Mobile, Robinson EMS, and Valley Ambulance.

Stay tuned for information on our next race, the Burgh's Pizza and Wing Pub 10K Run along the Cecil section of the Montour Trail, scheduled for April 2002.