By Kathy Chaffin
Center for the Environment
Mark your calendars for next Saturday.
Thatís the date of the first Fit Community 10K, 5K Walk and Fun Run, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. at Salisbury City Park Shelter No. 1.
The cost for the 10K is $25 for those who pre-register by Tuesday. Registration is $30 on the day of the race. Fun Run registration is $10.
Competitive and recreational runners, walkers and Fun Run participants will traverse a 6.2-mile course featuring the Salisbury Greenway and North Main Neighborhood Sidewalk Project. The event is sponsored by the city of Salisbury, Salisbury Parks and Recreation and the Salisbury Rowan Runners Club.
Two blocks of sidewalks added with the North Main Neighborhood Sidewalk Project allow residents to walk, bicycle and run to the adjoining Hurley Park. The project was the first of two sidewalk additions funded with a combination of a $60,000 ěFit Community Programî grant from the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund, direct contributions from the city of Salisbury and in-kind contributions from the cityís Street Division.
The second phase added 800 feet of sidewalk along North Jackson Street adjacent to City Park and two areas with benches and trash receptacles for walkers.
The third phase ó the addition of a sidewalk along two blocks of Lake Drive connecting the North Main Neighborhood residents to the Salisbury Greenway ó will start after the 10K and Fun Run, according to Joe Morris, senior planning director for Salisbury. The work will be financed with Salisbury City Council allocation funds.
The Salisbury Greenway consists of 2.5 miles of recreational areas and linear parks for walking, biking and jogging.
Staff from the Center for the Environment at Catawba College will be on hand with information on air quality and health as part of its Campaign for Clean Air, which is designed to educate citizens about the health risks of poor air quality and to empower them to take action to reduce air pollution.
The Center for the Environment, which is a co-sponsor of the Fit Community 10K, 5K Walk and Fun Run, launched its Campaign for Clean Air after a 2003 report by the American Lung Association ranked Rowan County as having the 16th worst ground-level ozone pollution in the nation among counties monitored. Rowan currently ranks 17th in the nation among counties monitored for ozone pollution.
Campaign for Clean Air sponsors are the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Food Lion, F&M Bank, GCS, Caniche, Power Curbers, N-Focus, First United Church of Christ Foundation, Square D and Piedmont Natural Gas.
For more information on the first annual Fit Community 10K, 5K Walk and Fun Run, log onto www.salisburync.gov/pkrec.
To read more about the Campaign for Clean Air, visit www.campaignforcleanair.org.