Annual Nasuti 5K on tap for Memorial Day
WOONSOCKET — An opportunity to help out the Woonsocket school department’s athletic programs and remember one of its longtime dedicated leaders has come around again with the arrival of Memorial Day and the fifth edition of the George Nasuti Novans Pride 5K.
Judy Sullivan, the owner of The Gym, LLC, at 2168 Diamond Hill Road, is again hosting the 5K road race and walk on Monday, May 29, and expects a big crowd of Villa Novans, community members and friends of the Nasuti family to put sneakers to the pavement for the annual fundraiser benefitting the Nasuti Foundation and Villa Novan athletics. All the proceeds of the race will go to the foundation and, in turn, be allotted to the needs of sports programs at the high school and middle school.
Sullivan is hoping for a somewhat better turnout for the event than last year when heavy rains in the morning made a few of the prospective participants reconsider a run up Diamond Hill Road at the
last minute. For the crowd of several hundred that did set out on the run and walk the course, the rain faded just in time for the starting gun and allowed the planned after race party to be held without discomfort.
This year, Sullivan is expecting local high school students to get involved again, as well as school alumni who annually show up to help the school department’s programs.
Nasuti was a longtime school department administrator, principal and athletic director, when he died in February of 2014 after a fall while refereeing a basketball game.
Nasuti had actually been involved in setting up the race as a fundraiser for the athletic department when it was being planned in 2013, Sullivan noted.
“George actually started the first road race with us when it was held in September of 2013,” Sullivan said. “Then George passed away in February and we did the next one in his memory that year on Memorial Day,” she said.
The support for the race has continued in the years since, she noted. “I just think it’s great to keep the race going. It’s good for the community, it is a good cause, and it is a great way to remember George.”
The race is supported by local businesses like Ciro’s, which donates the food for the post race party at The Gym, and the Jolly Jumpers, which brings the tents and tables for the parking lot.
This year there will be an inflated bouncy house for the kids and, if the weather is warm enough, a dunking tank, too, she said.
A kids’ race held at 8 a.m. before the 8:30 5K start, will feature color dust to make it especially fun, Sullivan said. “We are also going to have cotton candy and face painting. “
Local high school teams can get a $2 discount on the $15 student online race fee if they join as a group and the team with the most members registered will win a free
workout for its member at The Gym. Adult registration at https://runsignup.com/Race/RI/Woonsocket/NovansPride5k
is $20 before May 20, and students k-12 are $20 and adults $25 the day of the race. Atech cloth Nasuti 5K shirt can be purchased for $12 until May 20.
Nasuti’s wife, Carol, said the fundraiser is a special one since George had worked on setting it up before he passed.
“He was involved in setting this up and now it helps Woonsocket’s athletes and it is dedicated to his memory,” she said.
It is a nice feeling, she said, to see so many of her husband’s friends and school community members, and others come back each year to support the event. “People from all over the area come to the race to help out,” she said.
High School Principal Carnell Henderson, a Villa Novan athlete at the high school like Nasuti was in his time as a student at the school, said it is great to see the race helping out with the programs its namesake ran as athletic director.
“It helps offset some of the costs of things we might not otherwise be able to provide,” Henderson said. In particular, the funds raised by the race have been awarded by the Foundation help operate the middle school sports programs which serve as feeder teams for basketball, cross country and track, and baseball, the principal noted.
“The coaches are volunteers but the Foundation helps pay for the officials, uniforms and league fees,” he said.
Nasuti had looked to the annual race concept as a way to streamline some of the other fundraisers being held in the past into a single event that could be counted on every year, he added.
“Once we had the partnership with The Gym, this event was able to do that,” Henderson said.
The race course leaves The Gym parking lot and goes uphill on Diamond Hill Road until a turn onto Bound Road. The course then continues down Elder Ballou Road to a water stop at Sen. Roger Picard’s home and turns right on Mendon Road. It continues to the intersection with Diamond Hill Road and turns right for the return stretch to The Gym.
For more information on the race, Google Novans Pride5k and follow the link.