Feature: Born to Run
We love it when people turn their passions into something new that lifts up our community.
Take Yakima natives and former high-school track rivals Erik Mickelson and Chris Waddle, for example. They dreamed of bringing an elite mile road race, with national class elite runners, to town. Over the last year, their dream has been made real, and their vision is clear: The Virginia Mason Memorial Downtown Yakima Mile.
The Downtown Yakima Mile is a one-mile race that opens a beautiful, 14-block gradual downhill stretch of Yakima Avenue to runners of all ages and abilities who “want to run their fastest mile…EVER.”
Starting at 5:30pm on June 8, there will be 11 heats of mile races - back to back - from elite athletes to tiny tots. The race has more than $25,000 in prizes for athletes, attracting top level competitors from all over the west coast. And, The Virginia Mason Memorial Downtown Yakima Mile has selected to support the Yakima School District on their Community Schools Violence Prevention Program.
I Heart Yakima is proud to sponsor this inaugural event, an elite road race, yes, but also designed for anyone who wants to run, no matter how fast.
“Whether it’s the Fresh Hop Festival, a James Beard award-winning tamale restaurant, a world-class brewery or vineyard, watching the sun set at Music in the Vines, a top-notch athletic facility like SOZO, or an elite road race like the Yakima Mile -- these examples of passion, people, and purposeful vision becoming reality all create a base from which our community will grow,” adds Waddle. “We all win, and we will continue to share this vision, not because it is easy, but because it’s difficult.”
- IHY Feature, 3.28.2019, Born to Run #004
*Please note, our partnership with the Yakima Mile is 99% love and 1% in-kind sponsorship.
