April 24, 2018
Derek Lee
UCCS will host the 17th annual Bash the Bluffs 5K Walk/Run on April 28. The race will begin at 9:30 a.m. Registration is open until 8 a.m. the day of the race, and costs $20 for students, faculty and staff.
Prices will rise by $5 for those who decide to register in-person the morning of the event. Discount codes can also be obtained at the McCord-Herbst Veteran Center.
The event brings the local community together, according to Brooke Freudenhammer, program director of Aquatics and Special Events at the Gallogly Recreation and Wellness Center.
“It’s almost kind of a marketing thing. It gets people to our campus, and we love seeing people come to beautiful UCCS,” said Freudenhammer.
The 5K, hosted by UCCS in association with Team Red, White and Blue and UCCS Army ROTC, is held in honor of Ed Burke, a former professor of exercise science who passed away in 2002.
Money raised from the event will go toward the Ed Burke Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund, which provides merit-based scholarships to students.
The scholarship is available to students with junior standing or higher and for graduate students that have completed at least one semester of graduate studies studying exercise science who have a maintained a GPA of at least 3.0.
This year’s event is the first time that chip timing, provided by BWR Timing, will be used to record participants’ times, according to Freudenhammer. With chip timing, athletes wear a small chip that will track their movement.
The 5K course begins on the sloped area right in front of The Roaring Fork. The course runs all the way down to University Hall and loops back around Dwire Hall and the Engineering & Applied Sciences Building before ending back at the Rec Center.
Sidewalk access is available throughout the entirety of the course, as the event is stroller and dog-friendly, according to Freudenhammer.
The 5K is expected to end around 12:30 p.m. For those taking part in the event, early packet pick-up is also an option at the Rec Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 – 6 p.m. at the front desk. Participants can also pick up their packet the morning of the event on Court A when they check in.
Those who finish in the top 25 receive prizes, which are given out starting one hour after the 5K begins. Prizes for participants will also be given out to each age and gender group, with 16 prizes per category. The age groups range from 6-12 to 60 and over.
Army ROTC will be present at both the orientation and the 5K. Freudenhammer said about 15 cadets usually volunteer to help out with the 5K and several more try to participate in the event.
For more information on Bash the Bluffs, contact Freudenhammer at [email protected] or follow UCCSRec on Facebook.