Good Sam Color Jam is Saturday, August 27
Walkers and runners have the opportunity to participate in some colorful fun on Saturday, August 27, when they take part in the 2016 Good Sam Color Jam.
The Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake will be hosting the event to raise funds for their facility. All funds raised will go towards a specially-designed rickshaw bicycle that will give The Village residents and The Lodge tenants the opportunity to enjoy a volunteer-driven bicycle ride around Mountain Lake.
Gettin’ colorful
The two-mile walk – or 5K run – are not timed events; only as a way for participants of all ages and abilities to come out, have fun and get colorful – all for a good cause. Leading the two-mile color walk will be 2016 Miss Mountain Lake First Runner-Up Emily Jahnke, and the 5K color run will led by 2016 Miss Mountain Lake Danica Dick.
Mountain Lake Family Fitness is the event’s primary sponsor. Additional race sponsors include Mountain Lake Fire & Rescue, Mountain Lake Area Foundation, United Prairie Bank, Bargen Inc., GWRA (Gold Wing Riders Association) Minnesota Chapter C, Progressive Chiropractic, Salon 310, Triumph State Bank-Darfur Office, Hometown Sanitation and Maynard’s Food Center.
There is no registration fee for kids five-years-old and younger, and students in grades kindergarten-through-twelve will have a discounted fee of $15. For adults, the cost is $30.
The two-mile walk will kick-off at 10 a.m., with the 5K fun run gun signalling the race start at 10:30 a.m. Both activities will begin and end at The Good Samaritan Society-Mountain Lake. There will be six color stations.
The course will be clearly marked, with roadways closed off during the event, but walkers and runners are asked to keep aware of possible traffic.
Participants are encouraged to wear as much white as possible, wear eye protection (the color sprayers will not aim at the faces of walkers or runners, but protection such as glasses or sunglasses are still a good idea) and bring with you a towel or fitted bed sheet for after the race to help keep your vehicle seats clean.
The color powder is 100% safe – and washable.
Parking will be limited on race day, so participants are encouraged to plan accordingly.
Cycling ’round the town
The idea of the rickshaw bicycle comes from Cycling Without Age (www.cyclingwithoutage.org), a movement started in 2012 by Ole Kassow of Denmark. Ole wanted to help the elderly get back on their bicycles, but he had to find a solution to their limited mobility. The answer was a rickshaw and he started offering free bike rides to the local nursing home residents.
He then got in touch with a civil society consultant, Dorthe Pedersen, at the municipality of Copenhagen, Denmark, who was intrigued by the idea and together they bought the first five rickshaws and launched Cycling Without Age, which has now spread to all corners of Denmark, and has now spread to Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Singapore, United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Slovakia, Netherlands, France, Chile, several other countries around the world – and hopefully, soon to Mountain Lake.
Volunteers (pilots) sign up for bike rides with the elderly through a simple booking system as often or as rarely as they want to. It’s all driven by people’s own motivation. As of November 2015, more than 63 of Denmark’s 98 municipalities offered Cycling Without Age from well over 400 rickshaws – and the numbers are still growing. More than 3,000 pilots ensure that the elderly get out of their nursing homes, out on the bikes to enjoy the fresh air and the community around them. They give them the right to wind in their hair.
