Students, alumni ready to ramble

Bobcat Ramble: annual 5K, 1 mile run in its 7th year this Saturday

The 7th Annual Bobcat Ramble 5K and Fun Run will take place on Feb. 19 in conjunction with other Homecoming and Alumni events.

The Bobcat Ramble was established in 2005 to promote healthy living on campus and expand educational opportunities of local area students. The ultimate goal of the Ramble is to establish an awarded scholarship at Georgia College that will support Baldwin County students who wish to attend the university. The university establishes a great level of importance in serving the community.

In 2008, the Bobcat Ramble was designated as a memoriam to John Bruner, who was a Georgia College cross-country athlete who died Aug. 4, 2007, while competing in the Missionary Ridge Road Race in Chattanooga. Each year John’s family participates in the Ramble and proudly presents the John Bruner Memorial Award to the top male and female students.

The Bobcat Ramble brings together a great combination of students and alumni along with other members of the community.

This year’s course is the same as last year; however, there will be a wider variety of activities taking place at the race. A spirit competition will take place during the race, and awards will go to the ultimate group with the most spirit, the Greek organization with the most spirit, and the local school with the most spirit.

Another change in this year’s race is the T-shirts given to participants.

“This year the T-shirts are different, they are technical race shirts, or dry-fit as most people recognize them,” said Amy Whatley, assistant director of wellness programs.

Junior pre-engineering major Mary Lynn Buchanan is excited to run in this year’s Bobcat Ramble.

“I have never run in the Ramble before so I am a little nervous,” Buchanan said. Buchanan has been training with her friends who are also running in the race for the first time. “My friends and I have been running at Greenway to prepare for the race,” Buchanan said.

Another first time Bobcat Ramble participant is senior mass communication major Starr Jarrard.

“I’m a first time Rambler, and I am really excited about it,” Jarrard said. Jarrard has always wanted to participate in the Bobcat Ramble, but other Homecoming activities have prevented her from running it in the past. “I run all the time, I just have not had the time in the past,” Jarrard said.

Junior liberal studies major Elizabeth Meehan ran in the Ramble two years ago.

“It was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun participating,” Meehan said. “The course was not too difficult and it was fun running with fellow students and members of the community.”

The one-mile Fun Run will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and the 5K will kick off at 9:30 a.m.  Awards go to the top three runners participating in the Fun Run. Awards also go to the top three male and female runners in the categories of overall Georgia College runner, overall non-Georgia College runner, and the John Bruner Memorial award, which is designated to Georgia College athletes only.