Please join us Saturday, May 18th for the Inaugural Running Outreach Initiative 5K! The Running Outreach Initiative is an Ohio State University student-led nonprofit organization dedicated to coaching underprivileged students in the surrounding community to complete a 5K race, with the support of fundraising efforts which engage the Ohio State community. Our goal is to bring joy, confidence, self-motivation, perseverance, and camaraderie into the lives of elementary and middle school students by introducing them to the sport of running. Simultaneously, we eliminate the financial barriers to entering the sport such as coaching fees, running shoe costs, and race entry fees. With this 5K, we break down the financial barriers to competing for our athletes by granting them free admission, where race entry fees from all other participants are donated to the schools hosting our running programs, Graham Elementary & Middle School and North Columbus Preparatory Academy. Competitive and noncompetitive runners alike are welcome to join us on OSU’s beautiful campus on Saturday, May 18th for some family-friendly fun! Participants will have the opportunity to show themselves what they’re made of, engage in some friendly competition, earn prizes, and raise money to support local schools. Official timing will be conducted by Peace Racing and uploaded to this page and to https://www.runningoutreach.org/, where more information about our cause is available. To keep up with what we do and 5K updates, be sure to follow @runningoutreachosu on Instagram!
Race Day Info: Sign-in, along with the start/finish line, will be located outside the Bike Hub near the fields by the RPAC, with parking space available in the stadium parking lot. Sign-in will open at 8:15 am, with one of the youth running program coaches from The Running Outreach Initiative leading an optional pre-race warmup at 9:00am. The race will begin at 9:30am, with a biker guiding the leaders through the route. Drinks and snacks will be provided, and awards and the announcement of our raffle winner will follow soon after every runner has finished. Participants have plenty to look forward to in terms of goodies! All participants, in addition to winning a medal at the finish line, will get a free ticket to our raffle. Male and female winners, with age group categories of 11 & under, 12 to 14, and 15 & above, will each be awarded a gift basket each with a collection of prizes.