The Greater Whitewater Committee’s third annual Discover Whitewater Series that took place on Sept. 20 featured a Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay, 5K and W3’s Fit Kid Shuffle through the beautiful City of Whitewater.
The Discover Whitewater Series Planning Committee was joined by 716 participants, 82 sponsors and more than 430 volunteers who all helped make the event a success.
The main goals of the Discover Whitewater Series are to build a stronger community and showcase the City of Whitewater. All proceeds from the event are placed directly back into the community every year.
This year $26,000 will be distributed between the Bethel House, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Athletics, W3 (Working for Whitewater’s Wellness), Whitewater Unified School District to promote academic excellence, and the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center.
Larry Kachel, chairman of the board of the Greater Whitewater Committee praised the involvement of the entire community.
“The city, school district, university, and business community really come together each year to make a truly successful event and does an amazing job of showcasing our city,” Kachel said.
This year’s event featured additional runners’ perks to help build and grow the event. In addition to a free pre-race meal and a free race day pancake breakfast, an enhanced post race celebration took place near the finish line. The post race celebration included a live band, free beer samples from 841 Brewhouse, free wine samples from Staller Estate Winery, and food provided by the Whippet City Booster Club.
Live music along the course returned to the series, along with the Kids Korral, a free childcare service for children founded by a combined effort of DWS and UW-Whitewater’s College of Education & Professional Studies. A total of 33 kids participated in this year’s Kids Korral. This unique opportunity for runners is expected to grow as the event grows.
Overall reviews of the event have remained very positive. Andrea Ednie, PhD, completed a confidential survey of 196 race participants and the DWS received many positive responses.
One of the survey respondents stated, “Beautiful course, beautiful town, great organization and all around great experience!”
And another one stated, “Best event I have participated in, very organized, great value, great family event!”
“It was an honor to be a part of this amazing group of people and as I compile the results of the survey, I was gratified to see the positive responses of people who loved Whitewater and the Discover Whitewater Series,” Ednie said.
Jolene Sell, the Discover Whitewater Series race director also expressed appreciation for the community.
“I have loved meeting all these amazing race committee team leaders and volunteers. We are truly blessed in Whitewater community. All the runners I talked with had nothing but praise for the volunteers and organization of this event,” Sell said.
“Our charity partners provided much needed support and volunteers to help ensure this event’s success, the Whitewater community really rallied around this event and made it special for all those in attendance.” Jeff Knight, president/CEO of the Greater Whitewater Committee, said.
The next Discover Whitewater Series is set for Sept. 18, 2016.
For more information, call (920) 397-0601 or email info@runwhitewater.com.
