Sorority holds 5-k race to raise money for charity

Richmond's Zeta Gamma chapter of the Delta Gamma sorority raised money for its philanthropy foundation at a 5-kilometer race on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Sixty-eight runners gathered at the Robins Stadium track at 9 a.m. to support Service for Sight, an organization that raises awareness for blindness and visual impairments, senior Caitlin Harman, chapter president, said.

"It's October, it's pretty outside and people are running anyways," Nancy Angelica, chapter vice president of foundation, said. "Plus, the money goes directly to our charity foundation and will be distributed to schools for the blind."

The participants began the 3.1-mile race with two laps around the Robins Stadium track. Then they crossed through parking lot B6 to the Westhampton lake path. After two laps (cq) around the lake, the runners returned to the stadium track for another 2.25 laps.

Junior Max Grinchenko came in first place, finishing in 18 minutes, 10 seconds. He was followed by sophomore Jeremy Hillner thirty seconds later.

"I was inspired by the cheering DG girls and by raising the money for the blind," Grinchenko said.

Grinchenko said he frequently ran around campus and played on the Ultimate Frisbee team. This was his fourth 5k run and his fastest time record yet, he said.

Junior Lisa Auster-Gussman was the first woman to finish the race in 20 minutes, 25 seconds. Auster-Gussman has run at least 50 5-k runs and was on the varsity track team her freshman year, she said.

Grinchenko, Hillner and Auster-Gussman all received gift baskets with healthy snacks, such as granola bars and crackers. The gift baskets were donated by the family of Jenna Petrosino, a Delta Gamma member. Sophomore Emma Materne was also awarded a basket for being the second woman to finish the race.

Pi Beta Phi sorority and the ultimate frisbee team had the highest number of participants in the race, with eight runners. The women from Pi Beta Phi won a gift basket since they correctly answered a question in a tie breaker competition between the two groups.

"We [Greek life members] don't want to be competitive when it comes to philanthropy," Kathryn Esty, a senior Pi Beta Phi member, said. "It's not about which sorority can raise the most money. It's about helping each other and the community."

Freshmen Jose Bustillos and Chris Graven, who are not involved in Greek life, also participated to complete their daily exercise, they said.

"This is nice because it's the first fun run that I have heard about since I got here," Bustillossaid. "I like non-competitive running, but it's also great that this is a little competitive at the same time."

Ruixia Shi, assistant professor of operations management at the Robins School of Business, also ran the race with her husband and daughter. She said this had been the first time she had run an actual race and she had been excited to try something new.

T-shirts and water bottles, donated by 3Sports, were also given as prizes. The 24th person to finish the race was given a prize to represent Delta Gamma's presence on campus for 24 years.

Jay Strickland, who graduated from Richmond College in 1990, won a water bottle for being the only community member to participate in the event. Strickland said he had heard about the event from a Delta Gamma member who babysits his children and that he had run cross country as a student at Richmond.

Other community involvement included donations of granola bars, bananas and water from Kroger and Martin's Food Market. The Richmond Road Runners, a community running club, provided a large digital clock to track running times and offered advice on how to plan the event, Petrosino said.

"We were really looking to get a lot of community involvement and to get Delta Gamma's name out there," Harman said. "This was the first time we had done this event. We want to continue it as an annual event that the campus knows about and gets excited for."

One hundred people registered for the event, but some probably did not run because of the rain earlier that morning, Harman said. Each runner received a T-shirt as a part of their registration fee. Angelica said students had paid $10 to participate and community members had paid $20.

"We hope this event will grow and get better and bigger every year," Angelica said. "We hope it will become a real tradition just like Pi Beta Phi lip sync or Sigma Chi derby days."

Sophomore Kati Miller led a yoga session after the race. She teaches yoga at the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness and has been practicing yoga for five years, she said.

"You have a lot of lactic acid built up after running," Miller said. "Especially on a cold morning like today, it's important to make sure you don't cramp up and slow down your heart rate after the race."

Delta Gamma also helps to raise awareness for blindness and visual impairment by supporting local charities such as the Virginia Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments and Guiding Eyes for the Blind, the program that trains seeing-eye dogs on the Westhampton Green.

"We are excited about the great turnout," Harman said. "I think everyone had fun, we supported a great cause and we are excited to do it again next year."

Contact staff writer Erin Moyer at erin.moyer@richmond.edu