Dear Grace Race friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us on the Grace Race Team! It’s been a successful year for helping the orphans of Kenya and together we have taken some big steps to completing the construction project. Thanks to your generous support, the net amount raised in 2011 was right around $28K. The money was wired to Naivasha, Kenya earlier in December. It is being used to build the remaining classrooms for the Grace Children’s Center, paying for construction materials and labor. You can see photos of the progress and updates on the construction plan details at the One27 Academies web site.

If you are an early bird, you can register online for the 9th Annual Grace Race – scheduled for Sept. 29th 2012. We’ll post a paper application and updated pledge sheet here on our home page soon.

Thank you once again for pitching in to help in this unique project to improve the lives of kids in Kenya and give them life-sustaining skills and hope for the future. We wish you and your families a restful and joyful holiday season!

Hello Grace Race friends,
Thanks again for being a part of what we are doing in Kenya to provide a home, education, job training, and a better future for orphans! The pledge money is still coming in and the deadline is 12/1/2011, but at this point we are pleased to announce that our net funds raised for 2011 are over $27K. Nice job everyone! This money goes straight to Naivasha Kenya to fund construction of the classrooms. A number of you runners and walkers will receive well-earned prizes as part of our Pledge Back Rewards 2011 program. Our top fund-raiser raised $1500 in pledge money. This a new record for the Grace Race and simply demonstrates the power of many people donating small amounts to accomplish a big project. Once the final tally is in, one of us on the Grace Race team will report back in December with the total. Thank you so much for partnering with us to finish this project. We hope to see you all at the 9th Annual Grace Race on Saturday Sept. 29th 2012.

Check out this really cool video, produced by Derek Feehrer, showing the highlights from the 2011 Grace Race. Enjoy!

Photos of the Oct 1st 2011 Grace Race are now posted. Enjoy! Thank you Ben and Ashley for your photography, and thanks Alfonso for creating the album.

Hi all Grace Race runners and walkers. Thanks for coming out yesterday on a rainy day to participate! Fortunately the rain held off through the morning so no one got soaked! Our 2011 champions are Joseph Ekuom of High Falls NY, and Kristen Iworsky of Boston. Master’s champions are Mike Cooney of Chelmsford and Rebecca Arsenault of Hudson MA. Congratulations to Greater Lowell Road Runners men for winning the men’s team prize, and Grace Community Women for taking home the women’s team trophy.

Speaking of Greater Lowell Road Runners … big thanks to Glenn Stewart and Jess Costa from GLRR for timing our race on a busy race weekend. Glenn and Jess will be directing the Bay State Marathon on Oct. 16th, and took time out of their busy schedule to help us and loan us some clocks for mile splits. Asante sana (“thank you very much”).

Thanks to Westford Police Amateur Radio Club led by Andy Stewart, for providing radio communications through the day. This was a new touch to the race.

Thanks to the small army of volunteers who showed up and worked cheerfully at their various stations. You guys are the best and none of this could happen without your help! We appreciate you!

Results are posted on coolrunning.

Please also thank our 2011 sponsors.

We will be posting photos of the race soon – stay tuned.
When we have counted the additional money raised through pledges and donations, we will post the total here so stay tuned for that.

Thanks for all you are doing to improve the lives of kids in Kenya, to educate them and provide them with life-sustaining skills and hope – one step at a time!

Hello Grace Race runners and walkers,

We’re looking forward to seeing you Saturday Oct. 1st! Here are 10 quick
reminders for you.

1. Start/finish 275 Billerica Rd. (Grace Community Church) Chelmsford MA. All parking is at Kronos, one block east of start/finish – 297 Billerica Rd.

2. Registration table opens at 8:30 AM. Please walk around to the back of the building and enter the gym, which is Grace Race “central”. There are bathrooms in the building. 5M race and 5K walk both start at 10 AM.

3. There is a free bag check-in area next to the gym – bring your belongings with you after you park, so you don’t need to go back to your car, and we’ll make sure they are safe during the race.

4. There is free childcare and kids’ activities during the race – you can
pre-register your kids (any age) or register on October 1st (please arrive as early as possible!).

5. Please stick around for the post-race spread of refreshments including pizza, bagels, fresh fruit, sandwich wraps, some special Kenyan food, and more! The Grace Race Cafe is open to everyone – runners, walkers, spectators – throughout the morning for breakfast and lunch items.

6. Race awards and raffle happen after the race in the building, starting at 11:15. We have some impressive raffle prizes this year – you won’t want to miss it.

7. If you are gathering pledges, you can turn in your completed pledge sheet and any money you’ve collected on race day when you pick up your bib. The pledge money with completed pledge sheet can also be turned in up to 12/1/11. Pledge Back Reward prizes are given out in mid December based on the amount you collected.

8. Strollers are welcome for walkers doing the 5K walk but we ask that you please line up at the very rear of the pack at the starting line.

9. Please tell your friends about the race and invite them to join you!

10. Check the web site for any last-minute updates in the days before the race.

Questions?

Please contact John – john@gracerace.org (978-692-1587) or Kenny – kenny@gracerace.org (978-590-2490)

See you next Saturday!

The Grace Race Team

Corporate sponsors play a very important role, contributing to the Grace Race Fund success, sharing their time and money. Thanks to all the 2011 corporate sponsors for your generosity!. For a complete list of corporate sponsors, please follow this link.

Hello friends! If you’re planning to run or walk please remember to pre-register for the 8th Annual Grace Race – $20 through 9/17/11, then registration fee goes up to $25.00. So far the pre-registered ladies outnumber the guys by nearly 50%. Let’s go guys – time to stop procrastinating! We’d love to see some more youths in the race too, competing in the 14 and under and 15-19 age groups. Remember we’ve got the Pledge Back Rewards program this year, with neat prizes including iPads, iPods, and Kindles – see my blog on July 20th and print out a pledge sheet. We need some more volunteers to help on race day. Can you and a friend spare a couple hours? Join the team and have some fun cheering on the runners and walkers – register as a volunteer here. We’re looking forward to seeing you on October 1st!

In each of the past 3 years, we’ve seen new men’s and women’s course records at the Grace Race. 2008 brought Patrick Tarpy’s 25:30 and Julie Spolidoro’s 29:40. The next year (2009) at the 6th Annual, Casey Moulton shaved a few seconds off the record and ran 25:25, while Kara Haas (a Chelmsford resident and familiar name in local running), improved the women’s mark, running 29:34. And then last year, Nate Jenkins of Andover shattered the men’s record and posted an amazing 24:49; Caroline Bjune (also of Andover) ran a great race to set a new record of 29:32 for the women. It’s exciting to think what might happen on Oct 1st. Will the records be broken once again!? Will we see some elites at the starting line this year? Which runners will rise to the challenge? Sign up to run, walk, or volunteer so you can be there to experience the drama and fun, and maybe establish a new personal best for yourself …

Hi Grace Race folks,
One of the ways we’ll raise money to complete the school in Naivasha, Kenya is the pledge sheet. Using this sheet, you can ask as many friends, family members, neighbors, or co-workers as you like to pledge any amount. Remember: lots of small donations add up to a big number, and every dollar raised moves us closer to completing the classrooms. All you need to do is fill in names, addresses, and pledge amounts on the sheet, then collect and turn in the money by December 1st. Donations can be made by check, cash, or online through PayPal (see upper right corner of the home page). You’ll notice something new this year that we added as an extra incentive: Pledge back rewards. We have a set of neat prizes that we’ll award as follows based on how much you raise:

$500: $50 Marx Running and Fitness Center Gift Card

$1000: $100 Marx Running and Fitness Center Gift Card

$1500: Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite

$2000: Apple – iPod touch 8GB

$3000: Apple – iPod touch 32 GB

$4000: Apple – iPad with Wi-Fi – 16GB

$4500: Apple – iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G – 16GB

$5000: Apple – iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G – 32GB

All award winners will also get a free ticket to our “Heart of Africa” Gala dinner on Oct. 8th. Check out the back of the pledge sheet for more details and please consider this opportunity – whether you’re running, walking, volunteering, or just supporting the project. We need your help! Thank you so much.