Alumni road race raises $5,800 for student scholarships
The 11th annual Pirate Alumni Road Race and Fun Run raised $5,800 for student scholarships, according to the ECU Alumni Association.
More than 300 runners and walkers gathered at the start line in downtown Greenville on April 21 and were treated to a new 5K route through campus. Runners scampered up Fifth Street, then wound their way past Joyner Library, the Cupola, Trustee’s Fountain and Wright Auditorium. It was a sunny and temperate Saturday, and campus was quiet save for birds chirping, the fountain bubbling, and runners’ breathing heavily. As they made their way back to the finish, they were greeted by high fives from PeeDee, music from a DJ, and vendors like Smash Waffles and JuiceVibes ready to offer post-run fuel.
Runners participate in the 11th annual Pirate Alumni Road Race on April 21. (Photos by Caroline Tait)
Clayton Bauman, a 2008 broadcast journalism alumnus, said the new route was like taking a walk down memory lane.
“When you’re out there and seeing all the purple and gold, all the buildings, the old stomping grounds, it really takes you back,” he said. Bauman even upped the nostalgia factor by running to a special playlist with hits popular during his time in college.
Erica Bell, a former ECU track athlete and current graduate student, ran the race last year while six months pregnant. This year she ran pushing her son, William, in a stroller.
“Normally, he can stay up for the first five minutes and then he falls asleep,” she said.
Bell added that she preferred the new course. “It’s nice that it went through campus, that kind of distracts you along the way. And this weather was perfect.”
All proceeds from the Pirate Alumni Road Race and Fun Run benefit the ECU Alumni Association scholarship fund. The alumni association annually awards scholarships to qualified undergraduates for the following academic year. To date, the alumni association has awarded 297 scholarships totaling nearly $432,000.Alumni scholar and sophomore Emma Plyer worked the check-in station at the race and said she was extremely thankful for her scholarship.
“It’s a really great opportunity for us students to further our education and not worry about the financial burden that college has,” she said. “We just get to be students.”
For more information about ECU Alumni Association Scholarships, visit http://www.piratealumni.com/s/722/hybrid/indextabs.aspx?sid=722&gid=1&pgid=2250
-by Erin Shaw, University Communications