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With 749 participants, more than 365 volunteers and more than 90 sponsors, the Greater Whitewater Committee (GWC)’s 6th annual Discover Whitewater Series (DWS): Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay and 5K landed high participation numbers on Sept. 23, 2018. All the people involved had sunny skies and no rain for a community event that honored the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Sesquicentennial.
The top runners in the women’s half marathon were: first place with a time of 1:26:55.67, Jessa Hackman, second place 1:28:26.65, Anne Tully and third place 1:37:48.54, Michele Apuli.
The top runners for the men, in first place with a time of 1:07:28.32, John Dewitt, second place 1:11:50.66, Alexander Cushman and third 1:15:40.94, Thomas Enright.
The half relay winners: in first place team “Kickstart,” Jerry Mane and Amber Mane, 1:41:17.92, second place team “The Schwinns!”, Marie Schwinn and Benjamin Schwinn, 1:47:38.25 and third place team “J Squared,” Jeremy Lois and Julie Thompson, 1:50:38.55.
The top runners for the women’s 5K: in first place with a time of 21:29.77, Heidi Mane, second place 23:55.63, Genny Maltby and third place 24:29.60, Jayme Anderson.
The top runners for the men’s 5K: in first place 18:42.7, John Ejnik, second place 19:35.26, Mark Elworthy and third place 20:38.6, Charles Pritzel.
For all race results visit www.runwhitewater.com, under race details.
Every year the DWS is in conjunction with the Working for Whitewater’s Wellness (W3) Fit Kid Shuffle. During the Shuffle, children 10-years-old and younger were provided activities throughout the morning and a one-mile run. This year the Shuffle had more than 90 participants. This year was also a successful year for the Kids Korral; the DWS provided a free childcare to all its participants. The Kids Korral is staffed by background-checked volunteers from UW-W’s College of Education and Professional Studies and the student organization, Creative and Resourceful Educators.
The DWS was also joined by myTeam Triumph once again. There were 28 participants from the local running group, out of the 28 there were eight “captains” in wheelchairs for the half marathon.
This is the second year myTeam Triumph has participated in the DWS. The entire DWS was thrilled with their attendance and hope to grow the wheelchair division bigger next year.
The main goals of the DWS are to build a stronger community and showcase the City of Whitewater. All proceeds from the event are put directly back into the community each year. The five local non-profit partners are Bethel House, Whitewater LEADS, Working for Whitewater’s Wellness, Whitewater Unified School District and the J-Hawk Aquatics Club.
“The entire community comes together for this race and it is an honor to be part of it,” DWS Race Director Dawson Miller said. “Even those people that don’t run but walk or volunteer and helping a great cause.”
The DWS would like to thank everyone involved in making the sixth year a success. The Whitewater community is a great place to visit, live and work.
The DWS Planning Committee is starting on next year’s race; new editions and features for 2019 are in the works. Save the date for September 22, 2019. We hope everyone will join us!
For more information about the DWS contact Jeffery Knight by email, jpk@knightpublicaffairs.com or by phone, 920.728.0662.
