The 10th Annual Laurel 5K Run and Walk will be held on Saturday, September 17th this year. The race has become a highly anticipated tradition for the City of Laurel, attracting many hometown runners as well as participants from all over the metropolitan Washington, DC area, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

In June 1996, Pallotti Early Learning Center inaugurated the First Annual Laurel 5K Run and Walk to benefit the child care facility's building fund and St. Jude's Research Hospital. The race has grown in popularity over the years, attracting a field of over 300 runners, helping the Pallotti Early Learning Center achieve its goals of helping children both home and away.

Traditionally held each June, the race date was moved to September this year due to the unexpected loss of the Center's founder, Sister Eileen Conner, in January. The date change also allows Dave and Val Makarsky, the new race directors, ample time to aggressively market and promote the race. The husband and wife team are taking over the reins from Francesco "Smitty" Smith, who coordinated the race for the past nine years.

Mia Laughlin, the Director of Pallotti Early Learning Center, commented on this year's change in plans, "We experienced quite a shock with our loss of Sister Eileen. While our team has remained strong and has done a phenomenal job during the transition, we felt it was best to host the race after Labor Day in order to do our absolute best--in memory of Sister Eileen and in celebration of the race's tenth anniversary."

The Makarskys envision truly making the Laurel 5K a hometown event. The race and walk will be marketed to area schools, churches and organizations, encouraging participants of all ages to come out for some fun, get some exercise and support two worthy causes. They would like to see the race attendance surpass 500 this year and reach 1000 or more in future years.

While the sign-ups for runners will occur throughout the summer, the Sponsorship Committee is currently hard at work soliciting area businesses to help ensure a fun and healthy event for the runners and walkers.

For more information on sponsorship opportunities or any other questions, please call Dave or Val Makarsky at (301) 362-3395 or email.
Also be sure to check out the race's website, Laurel 5K.

Last year's results can be found at www.runwashington.com.