Click here to See the Results of the Delmar Dash.
The 20th annual Delmar Dash is running Sunday and organizers say that although the kids’ race is down slightly in enrollment, the adult race is bigger than ever.
The Delmar Dash will be held on Sunday, April 6, beginning at 9 a.m. This year was the introduction of the One-Step-At-A-Time marathon, which is being sponsored by Spotlight Newspapers. The marathon was done in conjunction with the children’s race, which has been renamed the Delmar Dash Spotlight on Youth, in honor of the sponsorship.
The One-Step-At-A-Time marathon can be coupled with the children’s quarter-mile or half-mile races but is not mandatory.
The way it works, according to the race’s co-director Marcia Adams, is that participating children were asked to run 25.2 miles prior to the April 6 race. Children were encouraged to run at least one mile a day but no more than two.
Parents or physical education teachers initialed the children’s accomplishments in a daily log.
Adams said the program is designed to help children, Get off their seat and on their feet.
She said the program has been very successful in its first year, with 81 children signing up. All of the children participating in the One-Step-At-A-Time program will receive special T-shirts signifying their accomplishments.
Her husband, Tom Adams, is the other co-director.
Day-of-race registration will be between 7:30 and 8:45 a.m. at the Bethlehem Middle School. The kids’ race will start at 10 a.m. and also finish in front of the middle school.
`We try to miss the church traffic and be as undisruptive as possible,` Marcia Adams said.
All of the money for the race goes right back to the children and the runners, for prizes, trophies and T-shirts, Adams said. The roughly 40-to-50 people who work on the event every year are all volunteers, she said, with the exception of the `timing crew,` who set up the start and finish lines and have to use computers to help time runners.
They are the only paid workers, said Adams.
In honor of all the volunteers, Marcia and Tom Adams have started yet another first: a volunteer recognition party. All of the volunteers will be given tickets for a party at the American Legion Hall immediately after the race.
That same day, the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the third annual Chamber Pot race, in which area businesses send teams of runners to compete against each other.
According to Chamber President Marty DeLaney, the team with the best overall time averaged together wins bragging rights and gets the coveted Chamber Pot plaque.
`It’s a way to encourage more businesses to take advantage of the opportunity of such a great event, now in its 20th year,` DeLaney said of creating the Chamber Pot.
Last years winners were Sara and Jeremiah Madden from Matchless Stove and Chimney, who currently hold the Chamber Pot plaque. The Maddens, a husband-and-wife team, entered the race to compete for the award and represented their family business, which is owned by Jeremiah’s father.“