Run4Missions

RACE #2...Here We Come!!!

We are going to try this race thing again.  Details about this race, click on the link below.

RUN4MISSIONS

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Mt. Zion Baptist Church – Macon, GA

On-line Registration

HISTORY of Run4Missions

On April 19, 1986, Mabel White Memorial Baptist Church in Macon, GA, became the first church in the Middle Georgia area to host a road race. The race was named Run For Missions since any proceeds from the race would go to a mission effort. Thus, the first annual Run For Missions was hosted by Mabel White on the Wesleyan College campus though the church was located at the corner of Eisenhower Parkway and Second Street. RFM included a 5K, 10K, and one mile fun-run. Approximately 300 runners and walkers participated in the inaugural event under blue, cloudless skies.

The original race course began on the Wesleyan campus, moved left onto Forsyth Road, turned right across the railroad tracks and left onto Rivoli Drive, and was an out-and-back course. Several years later, due to the increased traffic on Rivoli Drive, the course was changed as it continued out-and-back on Forsyth Road. The 10K course looped through the Wolf Creek subdivision twice; once while running out and the other while returning toward Wesleyan.

As Mabel White chose to relocate their facility from Eisenhower Parkway to Bass Road in 1999, the race course was also relocated to the new church property though the new building was not completed. With the race being run the first weekend in March, RFM experienced all types of weather in its 17 year history. The first eight years brought excellent weather, but in 1994, Middle Georgia experienced an extreme snowfall on the day of Run For Missions. The race was cancelled, but a Re-Run For Missions was run in May, 1994. Heavy rains creating muddy conditions in the new church location made for interesting challenges in RFM #16 and #17.

RFM became part of the Run and See Georgia Grand Prix Series in 1998. The largest recorded crowd for a RFM was 415 in 1990. Several notable runners have participated in Run For Missions throughout the years. Craig Virgin, three-time USA 10K champion ran and set a course record in the 10K. Stan Cottrell, an ultra-distance runner from Kentucky and Atlanta, did RFM twice. Cottrell became famous for running the Great Wall of China, running across America twice, across Vietnam, and other ultra-distance races.

RFM dropped the 10K race in 1999 when the course was moved to Bass Road. The race drew runners from California, Ohio, Florida, and throughout the Southeast while becoming one of the three largest local 5K races in the area behind the Labor Day Road Race and GEICO’s race for Special Olympics.

In 2002 Mabel White decided not to continue this race any longer. In 2005 members of the Macon Tracks Club approached Mt Zion Baptist Church in Macon, GA in hopes to continue this annual 5K race. With much prayer, Mt Zion Baptist Church decided to revive this great event and continue with this road race. A website was created Run4Missions.com and the race name was changed to match the website address. All monies that are made will go toward a mission trip for the youth of Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

We are excited...OUR RACE RESULTS COMING SOON!!!!