A group of five Elizabethtown College employees took on the Harrisburg Mile Corporate Challenge on Wednesday, July 20, placing fourth out of 30 teams in the Corporate Challenge, All Employee Division. The team’s cumulative time was 30:04.3, which was determined by adding up the individual times of all five runners, with each of the Etown competitors individually finishing within the top 50 of the results.
The team representing Etown consisted of Professor of Engineering & Physics Kurt DeGoede, Assistant Men’s and Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field Coach Anna Bires, Assistant Men’s and Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field Coach Maria Anderson ’18, Athletic Communications Assistant Wyatt Eaton ’10, and Professor of Chemistry Jeff Rood.
Etown was one of only three teams at the challenge to place all five runners in the top 50 of the individual results.
“Whether it was competing as a track & field athlete during undergrad or suiting up for a number of different races I do nowadays, donning the Blue Jay head is always a great source of pride for me,” Eaton said. “To be able to compete alongside other members of the Blue Jay family was an honor, especially after we did so well! It was great to connect with other colleagues from across campus and unite as a group to compete as one!”
The Harrisburg Mile Challenge is a mile-long course starting at the Governor’s Mansion and ending at the YMCA building. The race was separated into several different heats based on age and gender. An additional event of the day is a fun run, including participants juggling and running on stilts.
DeGoede has previously participated in the Harrisburg Mile competition as an individual racer. He had noticed that many of the Etown alumni participating in the event were running as members of corporate teams.
“As an individual racer, I always envied the comradery of the Corporate Challenge teams,” DeGoede said– thus sparking his motivation to assemble a team.
Proceeds from the event helped support the mission of the East Shore YMCA.
