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Jingle Bells Fun Run rocks Saipan again
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Posted on Dec 08 2005
One-hundred- and-ninety-seven holiday-minded runners made the journey from the Garapan Fishing Base to AJ’s Restaurant on Wednesday evening taking part in 2nd Annual Jingle Bells 5K Run to benefit the Saipan Swim Club.
As competition is not the focus of the fun run, there was not an official record of the participants’ time during the fund-raising event, but volunteers and swim club members provided plenty of Yuletide cheer along the beach pathway as they donned gay apparel that included bells, glowing bracelets, and an assortment of holiday themed gear.
“The weather couldn’t have been better. It is a shame the island’s Christmas lights along Beach Road don’t exist anymore. I think my parent volunteers were wonderful. They always do a great job for the program,” said SSC coach Mike Stewart.
Stewart said that the idea for the run was one that he came up with when he was looking for fundraising opportunities in the mainland. After the success of last year’s event, he decided to bring it back again.
“We started this when I was a swim coach in Florida. We used alumina candles, and ran through neighborhoods that were all decked out in Christmas lights. We plan to make next year even better,” he said.
This year the bipeds were joined by a delegation of dogs who took twice as many steps to reach the giant inflatable snowman and Santa Claus at the finish line, and they were just as festive as their two-legged counterparts.
The SSC would like to give special thanks to co-sponsors DFS, Pepsi, Gatorade, Miller Lite, Power 99, The Rock, PTI, Sunlark Corp., Deloitte, Beach Gal, Azuma, Candle House, Church’s Chicken, Delta Mgt. Power Corp. Elliot Artwork, JC Marketing, NONI, PIC, and UMDA.
“All these sponsors made great contributions that made the event a worthy undertaking,” said Stewart.
While the coach said that he will be bringing the event back next year once again in 2006, the next blip on the radar for the SSC is a trip to Guam this weekend for a small meet that will be the warm-up for the Guam International Meet on Tuesday, Dec. 27, and Wednesday, Dec. 28.
