Boilermaker and Beyond

If the Falling Leaves is our communities ‘elder statesman’ of races, then the inaugural Stars and Stripes Run/Walk is the newborn child. The event is the brainchild of the Sitrin Health Care Center.

For those not in the know Sitrin is positioning itself to become a facility to help mend the body and spirit of soldiers returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.  We have had over 20,000 soldiers who have returned from the battlefield missing arms and legs. In addition, due to the use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) as the weapon of choice by our adversaries many troops are coming home with various stages of traumatic brain injuries. Sitrin’s long-term vision is to build a lodge/ medical treatment center at Camp Sitrin (on Graffenburg Road in Frankfort) that can house up to 35 returning veterans.

The Boilermaker has had a long partnership with Sitrin with the support of the Wheelchair Challenge offering a wheelchair participant the opportunity to win a racing wheelchair if they can finish the Boilermaker in a standard wheelchair.

The race will take place Saturday, September 29^th at SUNY-IT. The 2 mile walk begins at 9:30 am the 5k run at 9:00 am. There is a $25 entry fee. All are asked to bring a non-perishable item to support the Feed Our Vets program. Registration is at the Campus Center from 8:00-9:00 am on race day.

Teams and individual pledges are encouraged and there are some very nice incentives if you can raise some money.

There will be a military-inspired obsacle course.

An Adaptive Sports Symposium will take place from 8:00 am- 1:00 pm demonstrating various sports such as basketball, curling, and target shooting in the Campus Center.

Want more information; visit sitrin.com and click on the Stars and Stripes Run/ Walk article listed under Latest News, or call Cheryl Jassak at 315-737-2245.

On a different note it looks like we might be having some cooler weather with a possibility of light showers for the Falling Leaves Road Race. If you are a regular reader of my blog you may recall I said the weather would be clear warming up to 70 on Sunday. I guess that co-hosting job on The Weather Channel is just not to be!

Saying that, just dress appropriately and come out and run.