For immediate release June 1, 2021     •     Contact Jay Jacob Wind 703-505-3567 / 703-927-4833 / racedirector@att.net

ACE Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Institute Friends of the W&OD 10K to continue tradition
as Washington area's "green" race

ACE Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Institute and Safety And Health Foundation
proudly present the 14th annual Friends of the W&OD 10K, a unique race on a unique course, Saturday evening, August 14, at 6:00 PM in Vienna, Virginia.

The 10K race (6.2 miles) runs on the pancake-flat Washington & Old Dominion Trail, one of the nation's best-known rails-to-trails parks, from Vienna Town Center near Maple Avenue to Hunter Mill Road and back.

Registration is now open at www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/friends.

From 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM on the day of the race, we present the 14th annual College of the Environment -- Green University® at Vienna Town Green, the park at Maple Avenue at the W&OD Trail. Environmental organizations are welcome to exhibit for free, and environmentally-themed businesses are invited to sponsor the event. Both are welcome to show off their programs and products at the College of the Environment.

  • The event emphasizes how runners can work to improve the environment, to recycle, reduce, and re-use
  • This event, the Washington area's GREEN race, recognizes our stewardship of our environment
  • The unique out-and-back course runs through one of the area's first environmentally-protected zones, an undeveloped meadowland where the deer (and the occasional antelope) play
  • The W&OD for its entire 44-mile length is a swath of green amidst urban development all around
  • The caboose and the old Vienna station near where we start and finish commemorate Virginia's history
  • The race course is a narrow (12-foot) wide paved trail, mostly flat, entirely on the W&OD Trail
  • We offer water and aid stations at 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 miles, as well as the start/finish
  • Our t-shirts by Sport Science > ™ are made from 100% organic renewable-resource cotton and are 100% recyclable
  • All trash from the race is minimized and recycled
  • Used shoes are collected for shipment to www.sneakers4funds.com
  • Environmental organizations can exhibit for free
  • We use touch-free RFID timing powered by Webscorer, backed up by old-fashioned manual timing method

    Exhibitors and sponsors include:
  • Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
  • ACE ACE Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Institute, leading the pre-race warm-up at 6:00 PM and pre- and post-race evaluations

  • To register, see www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/friends.
  • Registration is $30 now, $35 after July 1, and $40 after August 1 including at packet pick-up
  • All participants receive a commemorative t-shirt printed by Sport Science of Vienna VA using a non-polluting ink fusion process that wastes no ink, unlike traditional screen printing

  • The race offers $450 in cash prizes • $100 for 1st • $75 for 2nd • $50 for 3rd • M/F ($10 for each mile of the W&OD Trail)
  • Additional 10-year age-group awards 1st / 2nd / 3rd M/F
  • The field is limited to the first 300 entrants.

    "By organizing the unique race, we encourage runners to understand their impact on the environment and how they can choose to mitigate that impact," said race director Jay Jacob Wind. "Each of us has the tools to act to improve the environment -- our own hands, our feet, and our wisdom."

    The race benefits Vienna-based Friends of the W&OD, a volunteer group working to maintain the trail and its bridges, drinking fountains, plantings, and sitting areas. The group will staff the refreshment stations along the course.

    Pat Turner (703-444-4199) is president of Friends of the W&OD.

    For additional information, call race director Jay Jacob Wind (703-927-4833) or write racedirector@att.net.

    GREEN UNIVERSITY® is a trademark of Green University LLC (www.greenuniversity.net). Used by permission. All rights reserved