Viking Victory Run Aims to Bring Community Together, Raise Money for Elementaries

North Canton parents and teachers have put their heads together to ease the tension has caused, raise money for the elementaries, promote fitness and have fun — all in one event.

It’s the Viking Victory Run, Community 5K and Kids Fun Run, slated for April 22 and starting at 7th Street and finishing at the track at Memorial Stadium.

One of the main goals of the Viking Victory Run is to bring back a sense of togetherness that was lost during talks about the Elementary Service Plan — also called ESP, which makes and elementaries K-2 buildings, while and elementaries would house grades 3-5, starting in 2012.

“North Canton is going through a transition year where we’re combining the elementary schools,” said Todd Davy, Viking Victory Run organizer. “They’ve been doing these transitional meetings, and we keep hearing there’s a little animosity in bringing these schools together.”

The 5K would give everyone at each school a chance to meet and work with one another, to plan for and organize the event and then participate in it.

Then there’s the fitness aspect to the event, which is part of the Subway series challenge. Davy expects many people to train for the Viking Victory Run, with many of the participants possibly being new to running or 5Ks.

“What’s everybody do on Jan 1? They decide to work out,” Davy said.

He plans to start a nine-week couch-to-5K running program that would meet every Saturday leading up to the race. (We'll be sure to report more on that later.)

The run will raise money for the elementary school PTOs and PTAs at a time when . Davy said the money raised will help maintain educational programming as well as fund field trips.

The race accommodates 13 different age groups and is open to anyone, with the kids run open to those in first through fifth grade. The top three winners in each age group receive trophies. And for the fun run, participants receive tickets for prizes for every $10 they raise.

Right now organizers are looking for business sponsors. For more information on that, check out the letter in the PDFs portion of this update.

Davy, a runner himself, said the Viking Victory Run mimics the Bull Dog Dash in Green, which raised $12,000 for the schools. He thought a similar event would be a success in North Canton, and he hopes to raise about $8,000 next year.

Davy encourages the community to keep an eye on the Viking Victory Run’s website and Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, and North Canton Patch will continue reporting on the event's progress.