To the Editor:

(Hamilton, NY- April 2013IMG_7165IMG_7175IMG_7290) HomeRun for Habitat event was put on by Colgate University’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate recently.

The event was held April 13 in Hamilton. Peter Sagal from National Public Radio’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” spoke before both the half-marathon and the 5K events. He also ran with the runners, but not the whole way since he was running in the Boston Marathon April 15.

While attendance was not as high as some previous years, there were nearly 110 runners with close to 40 running the half-marathon and about 70 running the 5K.

It was a balmy 45 degrees out, and there were several events going on in the area on the same day, such as the CNY Walk for Wounded Warriors being held in Utica and the first-ever Daniel Barden Highland Mudfest, a 5K with obstacles including mudpits and a log cross in Deansboro.

Even with the beautiful weather, the spirits of the students putting on the run and the runners were high.

Madison County Habitat had a booth selling t-shirts, raffle tickets for a 42-inch Sharp LED TV (drawing to be held June 2 at Oz-Stravaganza) and two tickets to see Peter Sagal at the Palace Theater in Hamilton, along with an autographed T-shirt.

Brian Bender was the lucky winner of the Peter Sagal tickets and autograph.

Sponsors for the run included SRC, Inc.; Chittenango Rotary, NBT Bank, Marquardt, Chobani, The Wellness Initiative at Colgate University and the Route 20 Association, which sponsors the Route 20 Road Challenge Series.

On a side note, many of us were worried about Peter Sagal’s well-being after the bombing at the Boston Marathon; Sagal helped William Greer, who is legally blind, run the marathon. They finished in about four hours and four minutes … and are safe.

Sagal reported they had just finished the marathon and were making their way through the finish chute when they heard two explosions in quick succession. Marathon staff then told them and other runners to leave the area as quickly as possible.

Shannon Emmons, Lakeport, volunteer publicist for Madison County Habitat for Humanity

By martha

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.