By all rights, Rachel Busch should have a serious case of butterflies.
A year ago, Dan Strutz put together the inaugural Athletes in Action 5K run/walk in North Mankato. This year, Strutz is working in Australia and the reins of the event have been turned over to Rachel Busch.
The 5K run/walk takes place at 9 a.m. Saturday but Busch is far from the nervous wreck you might expect from someone thrust into this situation for the first time. In fact, Busch seems downright calm.
“I’m an organizer, that’s one of my strengths,” Busch said earlier this week. “The co-director, Heather Stanek, is an organizer, too. At this point it looks like we have things under control.”
Under control might be an understatement. Last year the first-time event drew 60 runners. As of Tuesday, Busch and Stanek had more than 90 entrants and they expect to top the century mark by the time the race begins.
The Athletes in Action 5K is co-sponsored by the Minnesota State University chapter of the Campus Crusade for Christ. All proceeds from the event will go directly toward scholarships for MSU students to attend Christian retreats and conferences.
Busch doesn’t have any exact figures but she’s guessing last year’s race/walk raised about $1,200. She hopes this year’s event will top the $2,000 mark.
One of her secrets for the larger number of entrants is based on a tried and true concept — advertising.
“We put together a team of students who contacted a bunch of businesses this year,” Busch said. “We talked to business owners and asked them if we could put up posters. We handed out fliers, too, and that seems to have worked well.”
This year’s 5K course is the same as last year’s. The starting and finish lines are at Crossview Covenant Church at 354 Carol Court in North Mankato. The course is described in its brochure as “extremely flat.”
“We expect the first runners to start coming in around 9:20,” Busch said. “Just about everybody else should be in by 10 a.m.
“We’re confident we’ll have nice weather. We’d love to have a big turnout.”
Day of race registration will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Crossview Covenant Church parking lot. For more information call Rachel Busch at 641-420-0493 or log on to https://www.active.com/ event_detail.cfm?event_id=1746856
