Habitat For Humanity Holds First Annual 5K Run

EDWARDSVILLE - Lewis and Clark Affiliate Habitat for Humanity held its first annual Habitat Home Sweet Home 5K race at Township Park in Edwardsville.

The race took place at 9 a.m. Saturday morning taking off from the park down the Madison County Nickel Plate Trail and back after a turnaround.

A trophy was awarded to the top male and female. Medals were handed out for the fastest times in their particular age group for males and females. The age groups were 9 and under, 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70+.

The race was professionally timed by Toolen's Running Start.

Stephen Benicki won the race overall with a time of 21:48. The fastest female was Christy Sotoropolis clocking in at 28:56. She finished seventh overall out of 40 competitors. They each received trophies during the awards ceremony after the race.

Jackie Helm was the organizer of this event and she said that it only took a couple of months of preparation.

"A couple of months of planning, all hands on deck, " she said. "Toolin's Running Start was just so helpful with helping me stay on task and knowing my timeframe."

She was happy with the turnout during Father's Day weekend.

"Oh my gosh, I feel so blessed! It's super cool. It just exceeded expectations which is great."

"This is the first one we've ever done, so we were making everything up as we went along. We have great support through the Habitat Glen Carbon Chapter, so everyone was really helpful there," Helm said.

Overall, the race was a huge success and Helm can't wait for next summer.

To find out more about Habitat for Humanity or to make donations, visit their website. The link can be found here.

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