Runners, Walkers, and Watchers… GET READY TO DASH!
The date is set: The Mad River Path’s 24th Annual Mad Dash is on Sunday, Oct. 13th, 2019!
The event will start at 10 a.m. with the glorious 10K/5K walk/run through farms, forest land, alongside the Mad River, and through an historic covered bridge. The annual kids’ Fun Run always follows, then… a tent party for everyone, with music, awards, a light lunch, and one of the Valley’s great silent auctions, offering products and services from businesses throughout the Mad River Valley. Participants receive a prized Mad Dash T-shirt, and kids get a Fun Run T-shirt. Many Vermont businesses support this classic Valley event.
In 2018, the Dash – sponsored by Sugarbush Resort, and officially started by local farmer Elwin Neill, whose family has provided land for Dash starting gates and tents since the first Mad Dash 24 years ago – attracted runners from 11 states and three Canadian provinces. More than 450 people registered to walk or run in the 5- or 10k, and about 60 kids zoomed to age-appropriate finish lines in the Fun Run sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Hundreds of irrepressible participants, observers, volunteers, and sponsors gathered under steel-gray skies to enjoy being outdoors surrounded by Vermont’s fabled fall foliage, and to be serenaded by local musical group, Phineas Gage. Runners from Harwood Union High School attended with their coaches, adding potent athleticism. Female and male winners from different age categories and geographies set the pace. A few youngsters ran with their mom or dad or both.
The mighty Mad Dash volunteers, including Green Mountain Valley School students, locals and visitors alike, fueled the event. Sixty-plus hearty souls helped set up, register, prep food, hand out water, set up the course, park cars and much more.
According to Mad River Path Association President Laura Brines, “It was an idyllic autumnal scene, as usual. Next up, the 2019 Mad Dash, with the five F’s – fun, families, foliage, farms, and forests, all in a Sunday morning.”
Mark your calendar! And, rain or shine, be there for the 2019 Mad Dash – the Valley outdoor experience that offers something for everyone. Registration opens online on August 1, 2019 at madriverpath.com and click “dash.” To join the volunteer brigade or for questions, email the Path at path@madriver.com.
