5K run to benefit Troth Yeddha’ Park at UAF

September 17, 2012

Marmian Grimes

Diana Campbell
907-322-7686
9/13/12

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is hosting the inaugural Troth Yeddha’ 5K Run for the Park Saturday, Sept. 22 at 10 a.m.

The event will raise money for improvements at Troth Yeddha’ yedt Park. It will begin at the park on Yukon Drive, next to the UA Museum of the North.

Registration is $20 and check-in is at 9 a.m. The first 100 registrants will get a Troth Yeddha’ T-shirt. Registration for UAF students who have a PolarExpress card is free. Registration forms are available at Play it Again Sports, Beaver Sports, Goldstream Sports and the Interior-Aleutians Campus Harper Building. The forms also can be downloaded from the CRCD website and turned into any of the locations listed. Early bib pickup will be Wednesday, Sept. 19, 4:30-7:30 p.m., at IAC Harper Building, 4280 Geist Road.

UAF’s Troth Yeddha’ Dancers will warm up the participants and Soaring Eagle Drum Group will perform at the finish line. Event coordinators will hold a drawing for prizes, including specials from the Lodge at Black Rapids, Chena Hot Springs Resort, Taste of Alaska Lodge, River’s Edge Resort, Bettles Lodge and Minnie Street B & B. Raffle participants don’t need to be present at the drawing. People who want a T-shirt and to participate in the drawings may fill out the registration without running or walking the course.

UAF’s Rural Nutrition Services Program, Interior-Aleutians Campus and the College of Rural and Community Development are sponsoring the race, which is also a Running Club North event.

The Troth Yeddha’ Park is being developed to celebrate Alaska Native cultures, particularly the Interior Athabascans, and to recognize that UAF is located on what once belonged to Athabascans, who called the hill Troth Yeddha’, meaning “wild potato hill.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Pete Pinney, race director, 907-474-7089, pppinney@alaska.edu; or Sarah McConnell, race director, 907-474-6080, ssmcconnell@alaska.edu.

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/rural.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Download graphics at www.uafnews.com.

DC/9-13-12/069-13