Race for Grace in North Huntingdon goes virtual

North Huntingdon’s popular Race for Grace, which raises money to battle childhood cancer, will be a virtual event this year.

The race is usually run at the Norwin junior and senior high school complex in April. This year, it will be held Oct. 3. Runners and walkers can participate in the 5 kilometer, or 3.1 mile race, or walk one mile on their own, said Dan Dodaro, a spokesman for the Reflections of Grace Foundation, which sponsors the annual event.

The Race for Grace is named in memory of Grace Ekis, the daughter of Brian and Tamara Ekis. She was 5 when died in 2008 from diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a terminal brain cancer.

Race organizers postponed the event in the spring and were waiting to see if conditions would improve so that they could have a traditional event with about 2,000 participants. About 1,000 people registered for the event in April, Dodaro said.

“We waited to see how the pandemic progressed” and wanted to see state guidelines for crowd size, Dodaro said.

With participants gathered together at the starting line and during the route, there was no way to have social distancing, Dodaro said. It also was unlikely that Norwin school officials would permit an outside organization to use the facilities during the covid-19 restrictions.

The race typically attracts between 200 and 300 volunteers, about 600 spectators, in addition to the 2,000 runners and walkers, said Ashley Metz Leax, race director.

By having a virtual race, however, does open the event to more people who can participate, Leax said.

“People from out of state can participate,” without having to drive to North Huntingdon, Leax said.

“We want to get people from all 50 states represented,” Leax said.

The 2019 race raised more than $160,000 for the Reflections Of Grace Foundation and is the group’s largest annual fundraiser, Dodaro stated. Because of the money generated by the race over the past 12 years and other initiatives, the foundation has been able to give $719,000 to 500 families of children across the nation that are fighting brain cancer. The group has awarded $450,000 to research efforts to find a cure for DIPG and other forms of pediatric brain cancer.

Although many events have been canceled because of the pandemic, “our mission to support families with love, give children hope, and fight pediatric brain cancer with grace has not stopped,” said Tamara Ekis, Grace’s mother.

“Our need for money has not gone away. We still have requests for grants” from families of children fighting cancer, Dodaro said.