Spring Break
Annual race earns support from students, community
Katie Taylor
Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Features
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Starting at Reade Circle in front of the Chico's restaurant parking lot, the runners raced east on Fifth Street to a turnaround point by St. Peter's Church and back to Chico's.
The proceeds of the race went to the Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.
"We have raised $92,000 in scholarships for ECU students over the past five years," said Paul Clifford, the associate vice chancellor of Alumni Relations at ECU. "Last year we raised $30,000 from the 5K race, our scholarship auction and a golf tournament."
The scholarships are awarded annually to ECU students in the amount of $1,000.
Prizes were awarded for the first three female runners, first three male runners and the first three from each age group to cross the finish line.
"I usually do about three races in Greenville a year," said overall first place finisher Moore Phillips, a senior business major at ECU and part of the university's running club.
This school year, Phillips ran in the Alumni 5K, Sam's 5K and Dash for Cash. In high school, Phillips ran cross country and track in Chapel Hill. Phillips' finishing time for the Alumni 5K on Saturday was 17 minutes, 46 seconds.
Current ECU students were not the only participants in the race. Another noteworthy runner was overall third place finisher Ronnie Delzer who completed the run in 18 minutes, 59 seconds, all while pushing a child in a stroller.
ECU alumnus Gary Brown ran in the race with his whole family. Brown graduated from ECU in 1990 with a degree in social work.
"We run every weekend as a family," said Brown. Brown said his family had been running five weeks straight in preparation for the Alumni 5K. A month ago, the family also ran in another race sponsored by Habitat for Humanity.
This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.
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