Relay Race Saturday Along Pinellas Trail

ST. PETERSBURG – A relay race this week will kick off the 100th anniversary celebration of the Pinellas County School District.

Pinellas County is such a large district that it is hard to imagine its early, rural beginnings. But this Centennial celebration will recognize the district with a series of events during the school year.

Hands Across Pinellas, a relay race uniting north and south Pinellas, is the first event. The cross-county relay is Saturday and runs along the Pinellas Trail. It will include 20 high school cross-country runners.

The students come from the four original Pinellas County high schools: Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, Largo and St. Petersburg.

Seminole, Osceola, Gibbs, Lakewood and Boca Ciega high schools are also participating. The public is encouraged to line the trail and support the athletes.

Students will run or bike in pairs for about four miles. Just like the Olympic torch relay, students will carry and pass a torch as they travel the Pinellas Trail. The torch symbolizes the "flame of knowledge."

Hands Across Pinellas starts at opposite ends of the county at the Sweetbay Supermarket in Tarpon Springs and Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg. The athletes will meet in the middle of the 33-mile route at in Largo.

“The relay signifies unifying the district- connecting the north county with the south county,” said Sharon McNeal, the district’s coordinator of communications and marketing.

The public can come to one of ten locations along the trail for the event, which begins at 10 a.m. There will be free ice cream and a drawing for a bike at each stop. The event is free. The community can purchase special centennial t-shirts for $10-$15.

September's kick off event represents Pinellas County around 1910. Each of the succeeding events will celebrate a different decade and feature a social activity common in that decade.

“In the early 1900s people would have gathered with ice cream socials. We are doing what people would have done at that time…we want to bring not just the district but the whole community together,” McNeal said.

School district funds are not being used for the events. Community sponsors are covering the cost of the centennial events, McNeal said.

If you go to cheer on the Pinellas County Centennial runners or eat ice cream, the event starts Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Here are the locations:

• Pasadena Fundamental Elementary, 95 72^nd St., St. Petersburg;

• Fairmount Park Elementary, 575 41^st St., St. Petersburg;

• Gibbs High School, 850 34^th St., St. Petersburg;

• Mildred Helms Elementary, 561 Clearwater-Largo Rd., Largo;

• Taylor Park, 1100 8^th Ave., Largo;

• Ridgecrest Elementary, 1901 119^th St., Largo;

• Orange Grove Elementary, 10200 65^th Ave., Seminole;

• Sweetbay Supermarket, 1171 S Pinellas Ave., Tarpon Springs;

• Wall Springs Park, 3725 DeSoto Blvd., Palm Harbor;

• Ozona Elementary, 601 Tampa Rd., Palm Harbor.

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