Record runners boost Albion event’s charitable donations

Photo by Tom Rivers – Ryan Lubba was the “Strawberry” during the June 8 race in Albion.

ALBION – A record field of runners, 274 in all, is allowing Strawberry Festival race organizers to share more money with three local missions.

The 5-kilometer and 8-kilometer races on June 8 drew the biggest field of runners since the race started more than two decades ago. The race features a runner dressed as a strawberry. If runners can beat the strawberry – this year 2007 Albion grad Ryan Lubba wore the outfit – they win a prize.

This year’s race included 100 “day-of” registrations that pushed the number of runners to a record high.

The race is organized by the recently formed “Albion Running Club,” which is headed by local runner and businessman Brian Krieger. (He was the Strawberry two years ago.) The club includes many members of the Albion Free Methodist Church.

The 5k and 8k course started at the Orleans County Courthouse, and wound through the canal neighborhoods, with the last stretch of the race following the Erie Canal towpath and ending at the Courthouse Square.

With the record number of runners, the proceeds from this year’s race outweighed the committee’s expectations. The group shared $2,100 in proceeds with Care Net of Greater Orleans and the Community Kitchen at Christ Episcopal Church, plus funding to help a local group from the Free Methodist churches in Albion and Brockport go on a missions trip to Haiti.