Salem-Keizer’s massive fun run for kids is back!
The Awesome 3000 returns after a three-year pause due to COVID, foundation shutdown
For the last three years, elementary age children have been locked out of one of the Salem-Keizer community’s biggest athletic events.
Now, with the end of the COVID19 pandemic and a new sponsor, the Awesome 3000 run is back.
The Salem-Keizer Education Foundation (SKEF) had been the original sponsor of the Awesome, but the organization had to close down in 2020 due to a combination of the pandemic’s economic impact and its own financial struggles. SKEF had also sponsored the long running Crystal Apple Awards for educators. The Crystal Apples were also revived with alternate sponsorship.
Thanks to the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley’s willingness to step forward with funding and support, the run will again fill the stands at Willamette University’s McCulloch Stadium, as well as the track and the surrounding fields of Bush’s Pasture Park. Registration is currently underway, with the run scheduled for Saturday, April 29.
The Awesome race was first held in 1983, and has attracted as many as 5,000 participants in a single year—with more than 88 thousand kids served since it began.
Pre-registered runners receive a tee shirt and a medallion marking their involvement. Although there was no time this year to hold a shirt design contest as in the past, the alligator mascot Geo will be on hand and featured on the shirts. This year’s slogan is “Back to the Awesome 3000.”
Many high school students have volunteered to help with organizing of running groups, which are arranged generally by age. 500 volunteers are typically needed, and organizers say they can use all the help they can get. Volunteers and parents wanting to sign up their kids can do so at the website link here.
Those families who sign up MUST pick up their race packets in advance at the lobby of Capitol Toyota at 783 Autogroup Drive NE—just off Cherry Avenue near the MLK (Salem) Parkway. Packets will not be available on race day, and will not be delivered to schools.
Ready? Set. Go!