The 4th Annual Neighbors Sharing with Neighbors 5K was conducted on the cool, gray and breezy morning of Saturday 27 October 2006 and all 41 of the participants were glad the rain did not start until after the event.  The competitors gathered at Holy Cross Lutheran Church at 8115 Oaklandon Road for the 9AM start of the footrace that coursed through The Highlands at Geist, Admirals Landing and Crystal Pointe neighborhoods.  Attendance was reduced somewhat from prior years due to the weather and because another popular five-mile run was being conducted in Irvington at the same time.  Numerous volunteers and donors contributed to the success of this year’s event.  Publicity was courtesy of atGeist.com’s community calendar and The Running Company allowed us to distribute race applications in their Broad Ripple store and their Fishers store.  Great food was provided free of charge and in great abundance by Einstein Brothers Bagels on east 96th street.  Brad and Jacob Hitzfield, Michelle Saysana, Gail Henricks and Heath Kirkpatrick took care of course marking, registration, refreshments, timing and results.  New this year was a spontaneous offer from our neighbor, Mike Orban of The Runners Forum in Carmel, of a pair of gift certificates from his store that were awarded to the overall male and female first place finishers.  The runners also brought new socks which were combined with extra race T-shirts and sent to The Sharing Place’s clothing distribution center.  Finally, thanks to the efforts of Jim and Edna Boerger, the over $600 in entry fees collected will be matched by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for a total cash contribution of over $1200 to The Sharing Place, a food and clothing pantry serving our neighbors at 7049 East 10th Street.  Line honors went to Mike Hlavek, followed closely by Michael Denney in second place.  Michael Denney was also first in the male masters division.  Austin Potts was the third finisher overall and also first in the under 17 male division.  Ashley Potts was the fourth fastest finisher overall, the fastest female overall and the fastest in the under 17 female division followed by Megan Gentry in second in the female and under 17 female divisions.  Cheri Kirkpatrick captured third place among the women racers.  Second place in the male masters division was Larry Varchetti with Jay Galbreath in third.  The top three places in the female masters division were Sherri Leiner, Eva Ochs and Melissa Dorsey.  Second place under 17 male was Jacob Hitzfield who was also the fifth overall finisher.  Third place under 17 male was Stephen Ochs and third place under 17 female was Allison Wisely.  Special mention is made of George Zeltner who was the oldest participant and ranked a respectable 5th place in the male masters division.  Twenty four racers were first time participants in this event.  Finally, five participants have completed all four years of this race:  Ashley Ochs (who this year wore her shirt from the first race in 2004), Ashley and Austin Potts, and Cindy and Tom Tokarek.  Thanks to all our patient neighbors for allowing us to enjoy a safe romp through the area.  Please join us next October as we undertake to help the less fortunate in our community.

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