By: Steven Stilt
More than 150 runners gathered for a good cause Saturday morning at Castle Ridge in Centralia, as the venue hosted its second annual “Shamrock Shuffle 5K.”
According to Michele Gulley, director of operations at Castle Ridge, 147 runners registered in advance, with another 10 or so signing up on the day of the event. Most of the runners wore green in conjunction with the St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Proceeds from the event will benefit 9-year-old Keiragen Meyers. Kurt Harris serves as director of Castle Ridge Cares, the charitable branch of the Castle Ridge brand, and he says that he and the other organizers were eager to assist Meyers.
“Keiragen was born with Down Syndrome. (She’s) such a trooper. I got to meet her. She’ll be here today, actually, her and her family. It will go to help out with — she has ongoing care, medical treatment, such like that, so it will help the family out with travel and such.”
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- Steven Stilt
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- Steven Stilt
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- Steven Stilt
Castle Ridge Cares was also involved with the Cardinals Caravan event which took place in January, and on March 21 the organization will host the “3-2-1 Batters Up” Down Syndrome awareness game at the Gaetti Sports Academy. Harris says organizers get a great deal of satisfaction out of putting these events together.
“These are one of the most gratifying things you can do in your life. There’s a saying that I grew up with, and it says ‘Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.’ And I just think, all of us, we get up every day and we’ve got a limited time on this planet, and this is one of the things we do. You just try to make a difference in people’s lives, and to be honest with you, I get so much more out of it and we collectively here at the Castle get so much more out of it than we put into it. It’s something that’s good for your community, it’s good for your employees. It’s just very gratifying.”
The overall first place finisher at the “Shamrock Shuffle 5K” was Carson Pigg of Centralia, who crossed the finish line in 19 minutes flat. Cindy Purcell of Mount Vernon clocked the fastest time among female runners, at 22 minutes and 45 seconds.
