Rachel Leone
Despite the heavy rain early on March 20th, 20 eager Tower Guard volunteers showed up at Bessey Hall at 7am to put on their biggest event of the year. This was the 4th year of the Shamrock 5k, sponsored annually by the MSU Tower Guard to raise money for the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Fund.
Among those in attendance at the race were the two founders of the event. Carl Oliver and Steve Migliore started the race as Tower Guard members in March 2001 when they were looking for a way to raise money for RCPD and to bring more excitement to the Tower Guard organization. Migliore and Oliver encouraged Tower Guard members to get involved by planning the course, advertising the race, working out parking and safety, and helping at various positions on the day of the race.
\We planned it to be a tradition", Oliver said, "We wanted to leave our mark on Tower Guard and make it more exciting. It's important to teach about giving back and taking pride in the community."
"It's really great to see not only local companies sponsoring the race, but national ones too" Migliore said. From the sponsors of the first Shamrock 5k of SBS, Pita Pit, Powerhouse Gym, Playmakers, Kinkos, and Meijers, Tower Guard now receives support from Playmakers, MSU Federal Credit Union, Sams Club, SBS, the College Store, and Pepsi.
Not only did the event have great support, it also had great participation. Around 125 people showed up in the rain to participate in the event, including Sparty who came out to cheer on the runners. Sarah McCormack, a student at MSU, heard about the race and called her whole family to participate with her. Sarah and her mother, Rachel finished first and second overall for the women. It was their first time coming to the 5k, but indicated they had a great time and would be back again next year.
The overall winner for the race was Scott Norman, a graduate of MSU, with a time of 15:57. This was Scott's first time running the Shamrock 5k as well, but he is an active runner throughout the year.
Tower Guard Shamrock Run co-chairs, DJ MacArthur and Kristy Snell were extremely pleased with the event despite the rain. "It went surprisingly smooth and we had a lot of great volunteers," MacArthur said. "I was really impressed with the competitiveness and the passion for the sport displayed by the participants. It's really great to do this and increase awareness for RCPD at the same time."
"From the standpoint of a watcher, I was amazed that the turnout was quite good. Considering the fact that we woke up to rain, wind, and chilly weather, the die-hard runners still found the starting line," said Tower Guard advisor Dr. Ronald Gibbs. "A great time was had by all. Our Tower Guard race coordinators did an outstanding job administering the whole event. They will be great consultants for next years racing chair people."
Full results for the 2004 Shamrock 5k are available at http://www.msu.edu/~towergrd/.