Proceeds from the race will be used to mow the meadows and trails of the 150-acre Rice Nature Preserve.
WILBRAHAM – Despite the June 1 tornado, the Rice Nature Preserve Stewardship Committee will go ahead with its first Run for Rice’s Road Race.
The road race will take place Saturday at 9 a.m. Runners and walkers will gather at the Lutheran Church across from the old Rice farm stand on Main Street.
The race course originally was planned to start across from the Rice farm stand on Main Street and go down Tinkham Road, through the neighborhood and back to Main Street. Because Tinkham Road was badly hit by the tornado, the route will be altered, Gary M. Roberts, co-chair of the Stewardship Committee, said.
The route, which is just over three miles long, will start at the Lutheran Church and proceed south through the neighborhood side streets off of Main Street. It will loop through some side streets and then back to Main Street, ending at the farm stand, Roberts said.
It costs $15 to enter the race, payable the day of the race. Those who want to run or walk should gather between 7:30 and 8 a.m. at the Lutheran Church on Main Street.
Proceeds from the race will be used to mow the meadow and trails of the 150-acre Rice Nature Preserve, Roberts said. Two mowings of the meadow costs about $5,000, he said.
“Fortunately, the tornado largely missed the Rice Nature Preserve,” Roberts said. The trails can be accessed off Highmoor Drive.
“We think that by Saturday people will need something other than the tornado to think about,” Roberts said.
He said hot dogs will be served in the Lutheran Church parking lot following the race. “We hope people will stay and mingle,” he said.
“We see this as the first annual road race,” Roberts said. “We want people to come together, after the tornado.”
