Come run, come all.
A Crown Heights senior college is hosting its first ever race on Aug. 19. Medgar Evers College is going to have a 5K race to help raise health awareness in the neighborhood and support the school’s scholarship fund. The contest has been in the works for a while now and it came up as one of the viable ways to get local residents familiar with the institution and earn coins for incoming students, said one organizer.
“The Medgar Evers College 5K Run/Walk is the culmination of a series of conversations engaging numerous alumni, as well as community members, over the course of the past two years. The 5K presents an opportunity for the College to serve our student population while simultaneously engaging the Central Brooklyn community,” said the school’s alumni director Tara Regist-Tomlinson.
The race will start at the intersection of Crown Street and Bedford Avenue and make various turns and routes towards Empire Boulevard, Eastern Parkway, Nostrand Avenue, Rogers Avenue, Brooklyn Avenue, Montgomery Street, and Sullivan Street, before ending at Bedford Avenue again where prizes and winners will be awarded, she added.
The different points in the race is the college’s way of letting residents, particularly newcomers to the area, that the school named after the civil rights hero is in their neighborhood and there to support community affairs.
“The Run/Walk furthers our mission by addressing the social and health concerns of Central Brooklyn amidst a renaissance, reflective of the era of the College’s conception.”
There are already 500 registered runners set to participate in the race, most of which include students and faculty.
but the race is open to everyone of all ages across the city, said Tomlinson. The race is expected to finish in under two hours and raise $25,000. And the first 25 athletes to finish will be awarded with trophies and ribbons, and prizes for gym memberships.
And because Crown Heights is rapidly changing, Tomlinson adds that having a race in the neighborhood is a sure way to get the name of the four decade old college out there and continue the legacy of its namesake, while also raising health awareness.
“Cuomo came here not long ago and said that central Brooklyn is a hotbed for social health issues and this is our way of doing something about it, but also to put it in people’s minds,” said Tomlinson.
She also says the 5K will be the first of many to come in the area, and aims that it remains a long-lasting event in the community to keep .
“As the inaugural Medgar Evers College 5K Run/Walk, our hope is to engage our students and the community in a health-conscious activity that they can look forward to annually,” added Tomlinson.
