‘The community is what really got me going’: UR hosts third Spider Dash 5K

The University of Richmond Forum was crawling with energetic students and community members, ready to run, walk, and cheer for the third annual Spider Dash 5K on Saturday, Feb. 22. 

Several UR organizations, including UR Dining Services and UR Well, arranged the 3.1 miles race.

Senior Olivia Liang chatted and took pictures with friends at the finish line after completing the race. For Liang, running the Spider Dash with her friends was an important part of her last semester before graduation. 

“I really enjoyed it, and I feel like the community is what really got me going,” said Liang. 

Community was also a significant part of the race for first-year student Jayne Aronson, who loves to run but found this race especially memorable. 

“It's a lot easier to run when you have a community surrounding you,” said Aronson. 

Her friend, first-year Alexa Samuels, heard about the race through SpiderBytes and decided to run it together. Although Samuels was not thrilled by 32-degree weather, she persevered. 

“Otherwise, it was just really fun, and everyone was really supportive,” Samuels said. 

The Spider Dash was also a big event for families in the Richmond community. UR employee and alumnus Eliot Cleveland and his eldest son Rock, 11, ran the race together while their family cheered them on. 

“It was [Rock’s] first race, and it was just awesome to run with him and finish the race with him,” said Cleveland. 

Cleveland’s wife, Olivia, is also a UR employee. She cheered on her husband and oldest son with their two other children, Max and Lana. 

Sarah Talabiska, 30, is another Richmond local who ran the 5K. Her daughter Clara, one-year-old, returned for her second-ever Spider Dash. 

“We ran [the Spider Dash] last year when Clara was just one, and it's almost her second birthday, so it was just a fun milestone for us to come do it again a year later,” Talabiska said. 

Even those who weren’t racing played a big role in the event. Josh Walker, a junior, showed up to cheer on his friends and other runners. 

"My roommate, Jack, and my friends Grace, Sydney, and Annabelle did an amazing job today,” said Walker, "We showed up a little bit late, so we didn't see them start, but we saw them finish, and that's what's important.”

Support from friends and the Richmond community was a common theme among runners in the Spider Dash. Erica Barends, a class of 2024 alumna, was encouraged by her current senior friends to return to Richmond and run with them. She traveled from Philadelphia to participate. 

“I'm friends with a lot of the current seniors, so some of them were joking that I should come back, and I ended up doing it,” Barends said. “It was a lot of fun; it was nice to see the whole Richmond community come together.”

The awards ceremony for top finishers was held in the Heilman Dining Center, where UR President Kevin Hallock thanked all volunteers, event organizers, and participants. Hallock himself walked the Spider Dash and, in his closing remarks, called it “a renewed commitment to health and well-being on campus.”

The top three overall finishers for men and women are:

Male Open:

Cole Lewis, a senior from Richmond, Va. with a time of 18:36 

Jeremy Young, a first-year from Alexandria, Va. with a time of 19:07

Thomas Watt, a first-year from New Holland, Pa. with a time of 19:18 

Female Open:

Katie Sinclair, a junior from Palo Alto, Calif. with a time of 18:43

Megan DeMars, a Richmond alumna from Richmond, Va. with a time of 20:43

Emily Ward, a Richmond alumna from Richmond, Va. with a time of 21:15

• Full results of the race can be found on the Spider Dash web page.

Contact lifestyle editor Sophie Dulog at sophie.dulog@richmond.edu