Millersburg Food Run to benefit local food pantry

Anyone interested in helping a local food pantry while getting some exercise at the same time will soon have a chance to do just that.

The Millersburg Food Run is set to take place Sunday, July 30 on the Holmes County Rails-to-Trails path.

All profits from the annual event, which began in 2018, will go to the Love Center Food Pantry in Millersburg.

“The Millersburg Seventh-day Adventist Church is a smaller congregation,” said Eva Durbin, race director, “and we wanted to do something that would be of benefit to the community, but we really don’t have the manpower to have a year-long sort of ministry for the community, so we thought it would make sense to support an existing ministry, one that we already supported.

“Our church collected food for the Love Center Food Pantry on a regular basis and would take donations into the food pantry, so we thought why don’t we see if there’s a way we can be of more help, so I contacted Edgar Raber, who’s the director of the Love Center Food Pantry, and he said cash donations are more beneficial because they can buy food at a discounted rate from the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. On average it’s like 10 cents per pound, so the dollar goes further when they can spend it rather than we spend it and give them the food.

“We decided to start the Millersburg Food Run and that the proceeds from that would go and help the Love Center.”

The Millersburg Food Run will feature four races — 10k, 5k, 1-mile and kids 1-mile — with all of them starting at 8 a.m. at Hipp Station Depot near downtown Millersburg. The 10k and 5k races will be competitive and professionally timed while the 1-mile races will be more relaxed. Runners, joggers or walkers are all welcome to attend.

The race course is a flat, paved path that goes through wooded areas and farm fields.

“It’s a beautiful location,” Durbin said. “Whether somebody is an experienced 5k or 10k runner or whether this is their first one, it’s a great location with beautiful scenery and friendly people. It’s really set up for everybody — people who want to run, people who want to jog, people who want to walk, people who care about their (finishing) time, people who don’t care about their (finishing) time. It’s really a race that anybody can participate in, at any skill level.”

All race participants will receive a medal, a goodie bag and a ticket for a prize drawing of gift baskets that feature items from local businesses. Participants can choose which gift basket they want to put their ticket in. Beverages and a snack table will be available for the participants after they finish.

“They might place last in their age category, but they might still be able to get a basket,” Durbin said. “That’s one thing I like about our race.”

The race categories are by gender and feature the following age groups: 13 and under, 14-16, 17-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-64 and 65-plus. The first-place finishers in each race, gender and age category will receive a $10 Subway gift card, and the overall male and female first-place finishers will receive a $20 Subway gift card. An in-person awards ceremony will take place after the races finish.

To register, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/OH/Millersburg/MillersburgFoodRun. The online registration cost for the 10k is $35, the 5k is $25, the adult 1-mile is $15 and the kids 1-mile is $8. Participants can sign up in person on the day of the event, but each race’s registration cost will increase by $5 once online registration ends Saturday, July 29 at 11:59 p.m.

“We encourage people to sign up online so we can have a better head count and know how many refreshments to prepare for,” Durbin said.