Valentine 5k Brought Out the Hearts and Soles of Valpo

Hundreds came out to run the annual Valentine 5k race held at Valparaiso High School on February 10, 2013.

This is an annual fundraiser for the Valparaiso High School Cross Country Team held to raise money to, “Defray the teams’ expenses including travel, uniforms and nutrition,” Assistant Cross Country Coach Aaron Crague said.

Crague stated that it was a goal to eventually have 1,000 participants come out to run the race.

He added, “This event started with just a few people coming out to run the race and it has continuously grown each year. Last year we had over 300 people come out. It’s great to see the turn out we have today with more people getting involved with the money going directly to the kids to support Valpo athletes. It provides money for team uniforms and warm-ups, helps with travel expenses and is a big part of our summer camp program that we hold annually each year. These are hard working kids with great character; they were third at state this year, and they keep working hard and at the end of the day, it’s about the kids.”

Heather Henderlong of T&H Timing said, “It feels really great to support the Valparaiso cross country team. We want to try to help inspire, motivate and help the team reach their goals.”

Head Cross Country Coach Mike Prow said that the annual Valentine 5k keeps on growing because it is a great race to run and it is held in a way that people want to come out and run it despite possibility of having to deal with a little weather.

He said, “Most years we have had pretty good luck with the weather, the race course is marked well, timed accurately and there is always good food to eat after the race; because it is done well, it makes people want to come out and run it.”

For race results visit: T&H Timing at http://www.thtiming.com/

Click here to view more photos from the event!