5K will continue at Brown’s
File photo by Tom Rivers – Margy Brown (center), race director for a 5K at Brown’s Berry Patch, is pictured with the winners of the race last October: Dana Phillips of Lyndonville and Paul Glor of Rochester. The race will have a new identity in October as the Brown’s 5K Cross Country Run and Memory Walk.
WATERPORT – The Brown family will continue to host a 5-kilometer walk and run to benefit Hospice of Orleans.
The family in the spring announced it was closing its popular retail farm market with a gift shop and playground. That site was a big draw for more than 30 years. The family retired from that side of the business.
The Browns continue to operate their fruit farm, and sell berries, apples and other produce.
The family in 1996 started a 5K to benefit Hospice. The race typically attracted 75 to 100 participants.
The Browns will keep the race going, and it will be known as the Brown’s 5K Cross Country Run and Memory Walk. Margy Brown has been the race director since 1996 and has turned over nearly $35,000 in proceeds from the race to Hospice.
“We believe in Hospice,” she said. “You never know how important Hospice is until it touches you as a family.”
Brown said Hospice has stepped up its services for the community, particularly with a residence that opened almost three years ago on Route 31 in Albion. That building includes eight residential suites for Hospice patients.
Jack Richardson of Albion nears the finish line with his grandson, Chad Hardy, during last October’s 5K at Brown’s. Richardson, a retired pastor, runs many local 5-kilometer races.
She has made some changes in the race. Instead of a 10 a.m. start, it will begin at noon. Runners and walkers will meet at the main building and parking lot for the former retail site. There will also be a 1-mile walk option.
She has partnered with the Albion Running Club to help manage the race. The Running Club organizes three races: The Run for Wayne in March, The Strawberry Festival Race in June, and the upcoming Metro 10.
The Running Club also leads exercise programs, and will kick off another 12-week Run for God program this Saturday with the culmination to be the race at Brown’s.
The Run for God is designed to take people from the couch to a 5K, to help them gradually build up to completing the 3.1-mile distance by training over three months. The Run for God starts at 8:30 a.m. this Saturday at the Albion Free Methodist Church.
Brown would like to boost participation to well over 100 for the event in October. She welcomes participants to walk or run the course, and to do it memory of a loved one.
More information about the race should soon be available on the Running Club website.
