Oxford Volunteers Prepare for Third-Annual Memorial Day 5K

People were skeptical when town attorney Fran Teodosio proposed organizing a 5K road race on Memorial Day three years ago.

They wondered how many runners would show up, whether people would come out on a holiday and how it would affect the town’s Memorial Day parade.

“I enjoy running tremendously, and I feel very strongly about Memorial Day,” Teodosio said. “It seemed like a perfect fit.”

Three years later, his intuition has proven true. The first year of the race, about 200 people participated, including someone who ran in Army fatigues and boots. Since then, the event has become an annual Oxford tradition that hundreds of people look forward to as they do the annual parade in the center of town.

This year’s third-annual Memorial Day 5K Freedom Run, 2-Mile Fitness Walk and Kids Rock Hopper Fun Run, will be held at 8 a.m. at the . The event is sponsored by the Oxford Parks and Recreation Department and benefits local veterans organizations. Click here for race information, including the route and how to sponsor the event.)

The race had 250 participants last year and organizers are hoping and planning for more this year. This year’s event, which has a theme of “Walk together, run together, remember together,” costs $20 for registration if participants are pre-registered by noon on May 28. The cost is $25 on race day, and runners must sign up by 7 a.m. The cost for the fun run is $10 for children 12 and younger. And, as always, veterans and all military personnel run or walk for free.

T-shirts for the event will be given to pre-registered participants while supplies last. Activities, prizes and awards will be given for different age categories, and people with wheel chairs and baby joggers can participate.

Event organizers also want residents to know that the course is a 5K USA Track and Field certified course and the kids fun run, which had about 80 participants last year, will have its own special race route this year.

Early race packet pick up will be held on May 25 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on May 28 from 10 a.m. to noon.

Money raised from the event goes toward the David S. Miles American Legion Post 174, Teodosio said. Last year, the Post put up a flagpole at the baseball and softball fields and they have sent two boys to the Boys State summer leadership and citizenship program for high school students. The Post has also put up POW/MIA and state flags at two Oxford schools.

“We couldn’t do this without the American Legion,” Teodosio said. “They allow us to use the roadway before they start their parade. They like the attention the event has brought to their parade. The two events really play off each other.”

The race will be a culmination of months worth of hard work by 10 community volunteers who have been planning it since January. The list of volunteers expands to about 30 on the day of the race.

The 5K also has several sponsors, who initially took a risk with the race and have come back year after year to help make the race a success, Teodosio said. And this year,  has donated ice cream for the kids event, while . also made a donation.

Debbie Gatto, Parks and Recreation director, said the race has become a wonderful community event that she looks forward to every year.

“It’s been wonderful especially because it leads right up to the parade,” she said. “We’ve had some good success in the past, and I think this year it will really take off.”

Click here to register through Active.com.