24th Annual Simsbury River Run, Sunday, April 28, begins 9:30 am

The Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club will be hosting the 24th annual River Run from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM on Sunday, April 28 at Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center on Iron Horse Blvd in Simsbury. The River Run is a community event that features a 5k, 10k and Kids 1-mile Run in addition to family activities and live music.

This year the Rotary Club is partnering with the Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company in celebration of their 75th anniversary. The race will have fire service themed events throughout including bagpipers, fire trucks and special awards for firefighter participants. The SVFC is an all-volunteer department providing continuous fire and rescue services to the town for the past 75 years. “We are very excited to share the road with the Rotary for this great cause as well as to promote health and wellness in the fire service for our 75th celebration,” said Jay Dixon, one of the fire company’s road race committee members.

This popular spring event raises money for college scholarships for Simsbury and Granby High School graduates. “We’re very proud to have CT Wealth Management (ctwealthmgmt.com), Educational Playcare (educationalplaycare.com), Fitzgerald’s Foods (fitzgeraldsfoods.com), Meadowbrook of Granby (MeadowbrookofGranby.com), Mitchell Auto Group (mitchellautogroup.com), McLean (mcleancare.org) and Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company (Simsburyfire.org) as major sponsors this year,” race director Dave Gridley said. “It’s because of community-minded sponsors such as these that we’re able to award scholarships again this year.” Scholarships are awarded to seniors from Simsbury High School and Granby High School based on academics, financial need, athletics and community service.

The River Run is great for competitive runners, active families and even non-runners who want to enjoy the festive activities in scenic Simsbury. “After a long winter, everyone has fun getting outside and enjoying the beautiful spring weather,” Gridley stated. The Farmington Valley YMCA will be in attendance with fun activities for kids age 3-7. A crowd favorite is the Kids 1-mile Run for runners age 5-14. Other family activities will include a bounce house and an obstacle course.

Trophies will be awarded to the fastest men and women runners in the 5k and 10k. Trophies will also be awarded to men’s and women’s divisional winners. There are divisions for all ages, from Youth (14 and under) to Hero (70 and over). The races are officially timed and USATF certified. Runners will receive their final time and place.

For information on entry fees or to pre-register for a race, go to http://www.simsburyriverrun.com.

Rotary International is a service organization comprised of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world. To learn more, go to rotary.org and simsburyrotary.org.

Contact: Dave Gridley, Race Director, Phone: (860) 810-4021

Website simsburyriverrun.com, email info@simsburyriverrun.com