UNITED WAY’S UNITY RUN 5K IS BACK!
United Way of Gordon County is excited to announce its 28th Annual Unity Run 5K is scheduled for Tuesday, September 28, 2021. This year’s 5K race is in person, and will be held in a more traditional format with staggered start times to limit congestion at the start line. Since 1994, the Unity Run 5K has signaled the official start to the United Way of Gordon County’s annual fundraising campaign. The Unity Run 5K is a fundraiser for United Way and raises money for our community partner agencies in Gordon County.
The race begins at Gordon Central High School and ends right in the middle of Downtown Calhoun where medals, t-shirts, prizes, water, snacks, and numerous community vendors wait to greet and cheer on the racers as they finish. Whether you can run for days or just like a nice, calm walk, or everything in between, this event is for you! Plus, you will be running - or walking - for a great cause!
Last year, COVID-19 affected not only our day-to-day operations, but also how we hosted our annual fundraisers. Not wanting to halt a Calhoun tradition, we decided to have the 27th race virtually. We had a total of 107 runners and raised over $14,035 for our 2021 United Way Campaign. Instead of traditional race medals, we gave out prizes to winners of various fun categories like Most Creative Outfit (won by John Cross as Joe Exotic), Farthest Race Contestant (won by Hannah Leigh Knight and Andrew Krikorian who ran in Boston, Massachusetts), Most Unique Race Route (won by Holland West who ran in Erwin, TN – Appalachia), and Most Spirited (won by George Southgate).
Last year, donations made to the United Way of Gordon County allowed us to impact over 31,000 people in our community. United Way focuses on the building blocks for a good life: Education, Basic Needs, and Health. While things are slowly getting back to normal, the lingering effects of COVID-19 are still impacting local lives, and the needs in our community are greater than ever. We partner with almost 20 different agencies in Calhoun who, like us, are committed to creating a safer and healthier community. We hope you will consider sponsoring and/or running in the race this year so that, together, we can LIVE UNITED and change lives in Gordon County.
Unlike years past, the Unity Run will only include the 5K race (which is open to all ages) and we will not have the 1K fun run this year. This decision was made to help keep things spread out as much as possible for a safer event. We will also incorporate staggered start times which will be implemented for proper spacing and distancing. We’re slowly inching back to a new normal, and are thankful that we can host this race in a more traditional format.
To register for the race, please visit gordoncountyunitedway.org/unity-run. Prices for Adults are $25, Students ages 6 - 18 are $15, and Children ages 0 - 5 are free. To be guaranteed a race t-shirt and to be timed for the race, you must register no later than September 3rd. Race day registration is $30 for all. We also have several levels of sponsorships and are always looking for great people and organizations to sponsor our race.
Each year we ask one of our corporate partners to donate their time to design the logo for the 5K. This year, Shaw Industries Group Inc. is designing the Unity Run 5K race logo. We can’t wait for you to see it!
Start stretching those legs and get your training in. We can’t wait to see you all there on September 28th ready to run!