5K Race To Raise Money For Green Campus Fund

EcoHusky hopes to raise some green for green causes this weekend in its third annual road race.

The EcoHusky5000, which will take place on Horsebarn Hill Sunday at 11 a.m., is a 5-kilometer race covering 3.1 miles. Those looking for less of an aerobic workout can join in a 1.5-mile walk. The event begins in the parking lot near the horse barn and loops around the hill.

The race will benefit UConn's Green Campus Fund, part of the UConn Foundation.

"It's an account we use to help with the green initiative we want to see happen on campus," said Alysse Lembo, 6th-semester natural resources major. Lembo is a co-coordinator of EcoHusky and an intern at the Office of Environmental Policy. "Whether we want to see solar panels or more recycling bins around campus, that's what it [the fund] is there for."

Participants will pay $5 (high school and college students with ID) or $15 (everyone else) to enter the race. The proceeds will go to the university through the Green Campus Fund, according to the EcoHusky Web site. Lembo added that Willimantic Waste Paper Co. Inc. is matching donations to the fund up to $2,000, giving the event the potential to raise more than in previous years.

Last year the event attracted more than 80 participants and generated a profit of $448, according to EcoHusky treasurer Steven Hovorka, an 8th-semester ecology and evolutionary biology major. However, this was a low for the event, which was only then in its second year.

"There were two road races going on at the same time, one of which was on campus, and ours was also on Palm Sunday at 10 a.m., so we didn't get as many people as we had hoped," Lembo said. "This year we're hoping for larger attendance since we don't know of any conflicting events going on that day and there are no religious holidays."

Lembo said that EcoHusky is expecting about 150 participants this year.

Participants in the event will receive free water bottles - "made out of recycled material, no less," Lembo said.

At the race, participants can donate their old sneakers to EcoHusky's sneaker recycling project, which, like the road race, is also in its third year.

"Nike takes all the sneakers we collect and recycles the soles and all the rubber and uses it to make things like artificial turf, playground material and other recyclable rubber material," Lembo said. "We usually get about a dumpster full of sneakers."

While participants in the race are encouraged to bring their old running shoes for recycling, they are also encouraged to dress in green to symbolize the mission of EcoHusky and the Green Campus Fund.

Participants in the road race can preregister at EcoHusky's Web site or can register at the race starting at 9:30 a.m. Sunday in the Horsebarn Hill parking lot.

Contact Aly Shea at

Alison.Shea@UConn.edu.