RUNNING IT BACK
Autumnfest organizers revive 5K road race
WOONSOCKET – After a hiatus of five years, the Autumnfest 5K is being revived by the Woonsocket Rotary Club to put runners and walkers back on city streets for a morning of fun and health benefiting a great local cause, The Milk Fund.
The bringing back of the road race was the idea of Rotary Club President Rena DiMuccio, a runner herself, and will help highlight the 40th anniversary of the city’s premier community festival at World War II Veteran Memorial Park, with an event that was also held in its early days.
“When I became president of the Rotary Club this year I wanted to do something special for the 40th anniversary of Autumnfest and decided to bring back the Autumnfest 5K,” DiMuccio said.
That task would have to be carried
out with all the other things DiMuccio had to do as a new president, back in January and February, like working on the organization’s effort to renovate the library at the Kevin K. Coleman Elementary School and several other Rotary charity and community service projects.
But with the help of Rotary members like Kevin Greenough, DiMuccio was able to get a race route laid out, connect with a race management organization, Trimom Productions, and get the necessary approvals to set the event for Sunday, Oct. 7, at 10 a.m. with a start and finish at Autumnfest’s East School Street entrance.
The last time an Autumnfest race was run was in 2012 when the local YWCA sponsored it as a Race Against Racism benefiting the Y’s educational programs. That course started out in front of World War II Veterans Memorial Park and after a similar jaunt through the city’s Northend and finished at the East School Street Autumnfest entrance.
For the Rotary Club’s race, DiMuccio basically had to start from scratch while reviving the health and fitness addition to Autumnfest’s 40th Anniversary line-up.
“I went to the Rotary Club and got the club’s approval, went to the Autumnfest Steering Committee and got its approval and we went to the city council on Monday and also got it approved,” she said while noting the council’s unanimous vote of support for the event.
Trimom Productions will be handling online registration through its website, www.trimomprod.com., and there will also be registration on the day of the race beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 9:30. Pre-registration pick ups will also be conducted during that time period.
The cost of the race is $25 in advance and $30 on the day of the race. DiMuccio said she hopes to get at least 300 participants this year, but noted that there are also some other major running events that day, such as the Boston Half Marathon and the Newport Marathon, both expected to draw big fields.
But for those not looking to run 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles for their morning workout that day, the Autumnfest 5K could be the perfect alternative.
“We are calling it the Rotary Runs at Autumnfest 5K,” DiMuccio said while noting that the event will be both fun and community service based. “All proceeds will go directly to the Milk Fund so this will be a kick off event for this year’s Milk Fund Drive,” she said. The Milk Fund appeal is held annually in Woonsocket during the month of December and helps to put a steady supply of milk on the dinner tables of local families in need, the working poor and eligible seniors.
DiMuccio said she has already signed up for the race as has her son, Joseph, and his wife, Paige. While she hopes Oct. 7 will a chance for her family to participate together, Joseph is a long distance runner who has completed 12 marathons, including running Boston twice, and is currently rehabbing an injury
“Joseph is the true runner of the family,” DiMuccio said while noting her son is a competitive runner, while she just goes out to enjoy a race.
“You start, finish and have fun along the way, that is all that matters,” she said of her own running philosophy.
For the adult runners signing up, there will be an added incentive in that the Autumnfest 5K will start and finish right near the festival’s beer tent and entertainment and refreshments will be available once Autumnfest opens for the day. The Rotary Club runs the beer tent venue as part of its contributions to Autumnfest.
DiMuccio said that while the road race was revived for the 40th Anniversary of Autumnfest, she also hopes it will catch on with festival participants and again become an annual activity for the festival.
“If the Rotary Club makes this a successful event this year, we hope to do it every year,” she said.
Autumnfest Steering Committee Chair Richard Savaria is also hoping for the race to catch on and become an Autumnfest staple event. “It brings people into the park and it is a morning event,” Savaria said while noting the race will conclude before the big crowds arrive and other activities get underway.
“It’s a sporting event and I think that it is good that is 5K and can be a run-walk event,” he said. The fact it will also help the Milk Fund is another reason to support it, he said. “They are doing it for a very good cause,” Savaria said.
For those looking to check out the race route, the course is as follows:
From the start at the East School Street entrance to World War II Veterans Memorial Park head uphill to a left turn onto North Main Street and continue on to West School Street. From West School Street the route bears right to Blackstone Street and then left to Verry Street before heading right onto River Street. The course continues to a right turn onto Gaskill Street and heads northerly for a brief incursion into Blackstone before turning right on North Main Street and starting a return to the park with a left turn onto East School Street and downhill approach to the finish line.