The four overall 5K Prostate Awareness Run champions are, left to right, Sherry Volz (female Masters champ), Kevin Ryan (male Masters champ), Molly Schoen (overall female champ) and Todd Schiller (overall male champ).

5K Prostate Awareness Run participants show off their blue prostate awareness wrist bands prior to the start of the race.

            The first 5K Prostate Awareness Run/Walk was held on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the Aigler Recreation Complex in Bellevue, and was termed a complete success by organizers and participants. There were 148 registered runners and walkers, with 133 of them completing the 3.1 mile course.

           “The race went off without any problems,” noted Race Director Gregg Gerber, who is also a prostate cancer survivor. “Our committee had two goals in mind when starting this event. One, we wanted to provide a great race opportunity for participants. And two and most importantly, we wanted to provide information on prostate cancer and reinforce that early detection of this disease is the best prevention and the key to curing it.”

           Prior to the race, each runner was asked to wear a blue prostate awareness wrist band as a show of solidarity, and a moment of silence was observed for those who are battling prostate cancer and for those who have lost their battle to this disease.

           With a time of 19:37, Todd Schiller was the overall race champion. The first female to finish was Molly Schoen with a time of 22:03.

           In the Masters Division, Sherry Volz at 24:24 and Kevin Ryan at 19:48 took the top female and male awards.

           The event was sponsored by The Bellevue Hospital, Fremont Memorial Hospital, North Coast Cancer Care, Heinz Company, Second Sole, The Cuyahoga Group, Firelands Area Runners Club, and Fremont Elite Runners Club.

           “We thank our two main sponsors, The Bellevue Hospital and Memorial Hospital in Fremont,” continued Gerber. “Another one of the goals of our committee is to keep the event ‘fresh’ by alternating locations every other year between Bellevue and Fremont, so next year’s 5K Prostate Awareness Run will be held in Fremont. I would also like to thank North Coast Cancer Care for sponsoring all of the trophies and medallions for the runners/walkers, and a huge thank you to Marc Glotz from the Fremont Rec Department and Marc Weisenberger from the Bellevue Rec Department for all of their hard work and help in organizing the event.”

           Finalized Gerber, “I saw a lot of runners/walkers and their family members take advantage of picking up information about prostate cancer, so to me, that marked our event as a success. And, any profit that we realize from this event will be donated to the Sandusky County American Cancer Society to help continue the fight against prostate cancer.”