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Wilmington: On Saturday, St. Francis Foundation 5K held its annual 5K walk/run event at the St. Francis Life Center along the beautiful Wilmington Riverfront in Wilmington, where over 200 participants hit the start line to help raise funds for the greatest needs at St. Francis Healthcare.
Key sponsors included Dr. Sandra Gibney, an emergency room Physcian at St. Francis Hospital. His late wife, Dr. Mary Rita Gibney, was a board member at Faithful Friends on Germay Drive in Wilmington, and also played an integral part in launching the Gibney’s Doggie Kingdom at the Faithful Friends Animal shelter.
In a May 2014 interview, she told the News Journal, “My mother loved animals, and I’ve loved animals all my life,” Dr. Gibney said. “We approached this thoughtfully to provide a better environment for the dogs and the people who want to adopt. We’ve even piped in music to help keep the dogs calm.” See the story at Delaware Online here.
Like her husband, she was also an emergency room Physician at St. Francis Hospital.
Other sponsors included Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, Eileen Walsh, Radiology Affiliates Imaging, Dr. Audrey Sernyak and Chip Sernyak, and more.
The St. Francis Foundation’s mission is to identify and secure charitable funds from public sectors to reinvest in the hospital. Funds raised support the operating costs of the Community Outreach programs at St. Francis Healthcare, including Technology and Patient Care.
More than $30 million has been donated by the community, and more than 10,000 patients with or without medical insurance, or those without adequate healthcare coverage has been treated through the Community Outreach programs since 1997.
St. Francis foundation 5K was held at the Riverfront with music, snacks, raffles, and giveaways. Races 2 Run directed and coordinated the race using the NOVA timing system. NOVA timing system uses chip time by using the MYLAPS bib tag timing system. In addition to Races 2 Run, there were also information booths set up from various health organizations.
The race started at 8:00 A.M. and Wilmington Police were seen with their friendly faces providing safety and traffic control. WSTW was there broadcasting the event live and also provided sound and music.
With the temperatures in the lower 60’s at 8:00 A.M. Participants were anxious to get started as they paced the event area. Then the announcement came, and the runners hurried up to the start line. With runners in the front and walkers in the back, moments passed, then suddenly… “Ready, get set”, then the horn sounded, and off they went, with a Wilmington Police motorcycle escort leading the way.
As moments passed, then 5 minutes, 8 minutes, then 13 minutes, and from a distance the first runner came running into the finish line.
William Rehrig, 23, from Bear, DE, finished first in 1st overall male with a time of 16:21.6, and seconds later, Geoffrey Shute, 41, from Wenonah, NJ came in at 16:44.9. Putting all she had into the last mile of the race, Laurie Finnical, 35, from Monroeville, NJ, hit the clock at 20:34.1, the first in the female group. Check here for the Leaderboard scores.
Upon completion of the race, awards were handed out in three different categories, Overall male/female, Top 3 male/female in 10 year age groups 13 & under through 70 & over, Top 3 male/female walkers.
St. Francis Healthcare also provided team cups for the top participants and top fundraiser.
