By Mary O’KEEFE

On Saturday, Crescenta Valley was off and running at the Running of the Foothills 5K.

The race began at 8 a.m. at Two Strike Park, with a pace set for everyone from the very fast runner to the more leisurely walker. There was even a race for the youngest of runners led by Neil Ryan, 5K coordinator.

The participants may have laced up their shoes to run on Saturday, but the real race began weeks earlier with schools and organizations challenging themselves, and each other, in a fundraising drive. Everyone who participated in the run could designate part of his or her entrance fee to his or her favorite non-profit organization or school. The sponsor of the event, the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, gave $5 to whatever the runner designated. This year the school or organization that brought in the most donations got an extra $100.

The schools were represented in force on Saturday, with principals from Lincoln, Fremont, Dunsmore, Monte Vista and Mountain Avenue elementary schools as well as Rosemont Middle School taking part.

The overall winner of the 5K was Ty Langford, a freshman at Crescenta Valley High School with a 19:06 time.(For a full list of top runners go to the CV Chamber of Commerce article on page 28 in this addition.)

The fundraising team was Rosemont Middle School.

  Mary Okeefe