By Wayne Allen
The seventh annual Natural High 5k run/walk will take place Oct. 3 in Earl Thomas Conley Park in West Portsmouth. Included in this year’s event is a fitness festival with a day full of activities.
“We have several things that will appeal to all ages and all levels of fitness,” said Melissa Whitt, event spokeswoman. “We’re incorporating a cool obstacle course for kids and we’re going to have a 30 foot rock climbing wall, we’re going to have Knockerball, where you get inside a big inflatable beach ball and run around, knocking into each other.”
Registration and check in for the Natural High 5k starts at 8 a.m. with the run/walk starting at 9 a.m. The event will be chip-timed through woods, open fields and grass. The course is 3.1 miles. Awards ceremony for the 5k is set for 9:45 a.m. From 9:30 a.m. to noon there will be several ongoing activities in the park including a children’s obstacle course, rock climbing wall, knockerball, chair massage, vendor information tables and refreshments.
At 10 a.m. there will be a Fitness Boot Camp lead by Yvonne Hale and Shauna Dowdy.
“This is an intense, grueling one hour session of high energy, intense workouts,” Whitt said.
At 11 a.m. there will be outdoor Yoga in the Park, led by Tina Chabot. Participants are being advised to bring their own mat. At Noon there will be Zumba Fitness, led Debbie Kilmar.
When asked why the event was expanded to include a fitness festival Whitt said, “there’s just so many new avenues (for fitness). There are so many people that have various interests, we wanted to incorporate all of those interests and we want to bring something in for everyone,” Whitt said.
Proceeds from the event will benefit The Counseling Center’s, Summer Outreach Club.
“We have been doing this (Summer Outreach Club) program for 25 years. Kids from all over Scioto County can participate in a nine week program during the summer. We take them to the pool, to the library and to the museum,” Whitt said. “We have several community partners that volunteer their time to work with and mentor the kids.”
She said because of fundraising efforts, participants of the Summer Outreach Club do not have to pay for activities.
“This is one of our main fundraisers; we also have a celebrity chef dinner. These two (events), fund summer outreach,” Whitt said.
There is a registration fee of $20 for the first event and an additional $5 fee for each additional event. For more information about the fitness festival call 740-354-3829 ext.2707. To register for events visit www.tristateracer.com.
Wayne Allen can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 1933 or on Twitter @WayneallenPDT
