A friend who taught for years in UMass’ Isenberg School of Management once told me that, according to research, fundraising events — concerts, ballroom galas, dinners, sports — are an inefficient way of raising money. Straightforward solicitation of donations, he said, produces a higher return relative to expended effort.
Probably true most of the time. Maybe not true tomorrow in Northampton’s annual Hot Chocolate Run.
I don’t have a data sheet showing the measurable time, effort and material cost of putting on this extraordinary community event, but it appears that the return on those expenditures is huge. As of Monday this year’s 5K race, plus the fun-run and the 3K walk taking place right before it, had raised $584,936 to benefit Safe Passage, the Northampton-based organization that supports survivors of domestic violence.
The other number that impresses me is 5,567. That’s how many people had signed up by Monday for this year’s cocoa-with-exercise celebration of what this community can do.
The 3K walk starts at 9 a.m, the 5K fun-run at 9:30, the race at 10:15. If you live in Northampton and have to get somewhere else tomorrow morning, don’t even think about driving on Main Street or South Street. Take back roads. Better yet, cancel your other plans, walk downtown, and cheer for the passing throng. Pull out your cell phone, take photos of the crazy-cool teams in costume — the Princesses of Power, the Semi-sweet Savages or any of the other 496 teams registered (!) — and while you’re at it, click on safepass.org to make your own donation.
If the Hot Chocolate Run draws a field one-sixth the size of the city’s total population, how come the annual Talking Turkey race in Holyoke last Saturday drew only about 200? Because they’re very different events.
The Talking Turkey came into existence in the heart of the running boom, in the days before everyone was doing Jazzercise or working out on Nautilus machines. At six miles it’s a hardcore runners’ event. The Hot Chocolate Run was inaugurated as a community cause, with high-profile support from the mayor’s office, numerous sponsors, including, sure enough, the Isenberg school, and a widespread awareness of the need to address domestic violence. At just 3.1 miles, it attracts many people who don’t think of themselves as runners but realize they can jog or walk that distance without serious training.
The hardcore were in Holyoke last Saturday. Two of the best-known and most in shape local veterans won the 70-and-over age group: Sidney Letendre of Northampton, in 46 minutes 52 seconds, and Rich Larsen of Shelburne Falls in 41:34. Other local age-group winners included Gabrielle Powell, 23, of South Hadley (40:45), Manny Wineman, 47, of Northampton (35:28), Ethan Nedeau, 52, of Leverett (35:41), and Alejandro Heuck, 60, of Amherst (38:01).
Eighty-one-year-old Jim Reis of Northampton ran around the cold but serene Ashley Reservoir in 53:04, a time that placed him fourth in the over-70 age group. Attention, race directors: If you haven’t already noticed, a bunch of us are going to be over 80 in the next few years, and we want our own age-group in races.
In front, youth claimed one winner’s trophy, age and experience the other. Danny Markey, 24, a Springfield native who now lives in Chicago but was back home for Thanksgiving, took the lead at the start and never relinquished it, winning the men’s division in 32:59. Fourteen-year-old Trevor Sullivan of South Hadley hung on impressively in second for three miles before dropping back and being overtaken by Brendan Adams of Wilbraham, who finished in 33:53 to Sullivan’s 34:07.
Melissa Stellato, 47, of South Windsor, Connecticut, led the women’s field all the way, in 37:27. Mia McDonald, 25, of Holyoke was a close second in 37:44. Wilbraham’s MacKenzie Sinnott, 33, took third in 38:35.
If you’re reading this early Saturday morning and feel a sudden urge to race, get to the Porter Lake Skate House in Springfield’s Forest Park by 8:45 a.m. today and you can enter the first of this winter’s weekly Snowstorm Classic races. Sponsored since 1980 by the Greater Springfield Harriers, the Snowstorm Classics are held every Saturday through February. Alternating between 5K and 10K — today’s is 5K — they start at 9 a.m. Entry is $5, or $2 for runners 14 and younger.
I admire the Harriers’ note on their web site: “The races have never been canceled due to weather. No matter how cold it is, how much it may snow, if you get to the Skate House, you can run!”
John Stifler has taught writing in economics at UMass and has written extensively for running magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at jstifler@umass.edu.