MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A Morgantown tradition continues Friday evening.
The 19th Annual Jim Dunn Run gets started on the Morgantown Waterfront 6 p.m. with registration at the Wharf Street Parking Garage.
Jim Dunn was a former WVU track and field sprinter and local Morgantown community leader who died unexpectedly in 2007.
The event, a 5-mile run, was established shortly after his death by his wife, Darlene Dunn, as a way to support high school athletes who have committed to track and field at the college level. So far 55 scholarships have been awarded.
The recipients of the Jim Dunn Memorial Scholarship this year are Joel Moreland from Morgantown High School who will be attending UNC-Charlotte; Landon Jones from Fairmont Senior High School who will be attending Marshall University; and Kaitlyn Key from Doddridge County High School who will be attending West Virginia Wesleyan College.
“This is our 19th year, and we want to do it up right,” Dunn said.
Runners will gather on Clay Street at the Wharf Street Parking Garage and start down Clay Street to the paved Caperton Rail Trail and head north past Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park to the WVU Core Arboretum. Runners will complete the final 2 miles on the rail trail to the finish line near Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park just before the Decker’s Creek Bridge.
Virtual runners can submit 5-mile run times from any well-lit course near your home or similar to the Jim Dunn Run course in the Wharf District of Morgantown.
The two-mile walking course takes participants from Clay Street to the paved Caperton Rail Trail and goes one mile out and one mile back.
Proceeds from the run also benefit a partner of the event, Stepping Stones, a nonprofit organization that provides recreational opportunities for children and adults. Jim Dunn had a disabled brother, making this cause especially important to the family.
“For many years we have had the honor of working alongside Darlene to help bring the Jim Dunn Run to our community, and since the scholarships have been fully funded, Stepping Stones is also a benefactor of the run,” Stepping Stones executive director Monica Marietta said.