Color Run draws 600 registrants
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 7 months AGO
Carmelo Mendoza was the first person to finish Columbia Basin Health Association’s annual Color Run.
Courtesy photo
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | September 3, 2020 1:00 AM
OTHELLO — Organizers don’t know yet how much money was raised through the annual Color Run sponsored by Columbia Basin Health Association, but about 600 people registered to run.
Normally, the race takes participants through the streets of Othello, but 2020 isn’t a normal year. The coronavirus outbreak prompted the organizers to turn the Color Run into a virtual race.
Event coordinator Courtney Martinez said virtual races are a trend among fundraisers. In a virtual race, people from anywhere in the world can register, run the designated distance and post pictures and a time. Color Run organizers added their own twist. “A hybrid of a virtual race,” Martinez said.
Because the colors are an important part of the race, organizers asked participants to run a course through Othello. Banners were placed at the spots where the color stations would have been, and participants were asked to take a picture at one of those stations, Martinez said.
The Color Run is on for 2021, whatever else is happening, she said. Whether it’s online or in person, “we will be prepared either way,” she said.
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