Road race for Special Olympics to be held July 21
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Shrewsbury - Fittingly, The idea for a road race to benefit Special Olympics came to Peg Holdash during a 2003 training run.

Holdash, a lifelong Shrewsbury resident, is the girls cross country coach at Shrewsbury High, where she ran competitively and is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame. She ran track at Connecticut College, has trained in Nepal and has completed several Boston marathons.

A Special Olympics coach the last nine years - as well as a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Oak Middle School - Holdash remembers going for a run about five years ago after a meeting in which the need for a fundraiser to benefit the Shrewsbury Special Olympics program was discussed.

"We had kind of challenged

" each other at the meeting to come up with a creative way to raise funds," Holdash said. "And I remember thinking during that run, as a Special Olympics volunteer and a cross country coach, that a road race would be the perfect marriage of those two interests. I suggested it at our next meeting and everybody loved it."

Holdash's idea has developed into the Special 5K Road Race. This year's edition - the fourth - will be held Saturday July 21 at 8:30 a.m. at Floral Street School. Cost to run is $15 if you pre-register and $20 if you register the day of the race. Applications are available at Town Hall.

Holdash, who serves as race director, said the committee sets a modest goal of 100 runners. The goal has never been exceeded, but it's been close. One year 95 runners participated. Last year about 75 folks ran.

The race is getting a big boost this year from the Shaw's supermarket chain, which is covering the race's largest expense, the cost of the T-shirts that will be given to the first 100 people to register.

"John Chagnon of Shaw's has been a terrific local supporter of the race and was the driving force behind Shaw's becoming such a major sponsor of the race," Holdash said. "He and the company are both very community minded and want to be known as a good neighbor."

Chagnon was recently transferred to the Leominster Shaw's. Despite that, Holdash said, Chagnon told her he plans to be at the race and is organizing a volunteer crew of other Shaw's employees to help out.

The race's other volunteers, Holdash said, are made up primarily of friends and family of people in the Shrewsbury Special Olympics program.

Other sponsors of the race include Sneakarama, P.R. Running of Northborough, Hebert's Candy Mansion, Danielson Flowers, Hannaford Foods and Jake's Diner of Marlborough.

Holdash said proceeds from the race will be used to pay registration and entrance fees for Shrewsbury Special Olympians participating in various competitions as well as other fees associated with Special Olympics of Massachusetts. A portion of the proceeds will also be used to purchase uniforms for the athletes.