Each year, Partners Aligned Toward Health organizes the Burnsville Fit Families (BFF) 5K with the goal of uniting our community through healthy activity. The 8th Annual Burnsville Fit Families 5K – held on Saturday, May 13th – was a great success! In spite of the iffy weather forecast, 180 community members ran or walked in this year’s event. We even had a few canine participants!
Developing healthy habits at a young age is a great way to make them stick. That’s why youth under the age of 18 run the Fit Families 5K for free! Through the generous sponsorship of many community organizations and the registration fees of adult participants, 93 kids were able to participate this year! Several local youth running clubs brought groups of young runners and their individual coaches.
The race would not have been a success without the many volunteers and partners who came together to manage logistics. The Burnsville Police Department and the Yancey EMS helped to keep runners safe on the race course, and Dr. Jim Haaga manned the First Aid Station. First Baptist Church of Burnsville graciously provided access to their Fellowship Hall and the Town of Burnsville allowed PATH to take over the Town Square! The South Toe Elementary Girls on the Run club, led by Jada Cash, even pitched in during the week leading up to the race to help stuff registration bags and make signs for the day of the race!
In particular, we would like to thank our title sponsor, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital, who has been a valuable partner and consistent supporter of our work and of community health initiatives in their service area. In addition, the following Partner Sponsors provided generous support to this year’s event: Friends of the Yancey County Public Library, Ingles Markets, Monkey Business Toy Shop, Pruitt Health, Town of Burnsville, Young & McQueen Grading, Steen & Snyder, DDS. Corporate Sponsors included: Garden Deli, Mountain Medical Arts, Parkway Playhouse, Ron and Minnie Powell, Dr. Alan Ray, DDS, Smoker & Folkner Family Practice, Subway, Toe River Health District. Finally, many local businesses were t-shirt sponsors.
Congratulations to the following top finishers: Tony McKinney (Top Overall Male Finisher), Kelly Johnson (Top Overall Female Finisher), and Patrick Poetter (First Stroller Across the Finish Line)! Each person who gave it a shot is a winner in our eyes, and Dollar General wanted to ensure that each child who participated received a prize. They donated enough fun, summer toys for each child to receive one! Monkey Business Toy Shop/Something Special Gift Shop and John Geci Glass donated prizes for the top overall finishers and those in each age category. Get the results here.
And finally, thank you to all of the community members who came out to cheer the runners on! Stay tuned for our next fun event. The 2nd Annual Sizzlin’ Summer Series is just around the corner…
