As the year winds down let’s take a moment to wrap up and celebrate our 2022 club wins:
We spread awareness of the Pagoda Pacers Athletic Club to the community at local events such as:
- Guts & Glory Wellness Expo
- Berks Nature’s Tails, Trails, and Ales
We collaborated with Berks Parks & Recreation Department and Fleet Feet West Reading to promote running in our community by leading:
- Trail Running 101 – An Intro to Trail Running to celebrate National Trails Day
- Interval Clinic
We encouraged youth interest and participation in the sport of running by providing the young runners of Berks County with a first-class event: The Berks County Junior High Cross Country Fall “Run Off” Invitational
We saw many new and returning faces at our group runs this year
- Wednesday Night Runs – Implementation of guided long and short routes was a success throughout the year. We had many weeks when WNR also meant Wednesday Night Ride, as members coordinated a bike ride to go along with the run.
- Weekend Long Runs are back! This year we’ve hit up Wissahickon Park, Trexler Preserve, and Green Lane.
Giving Back to our community
- Opportunity House Dinner – Members of our club came together to organize, prep, and serve a nice hot meal to those in our community who are less fortunate.
- Trail clean-up and maintenance on Mount Penn, Horseshoe Trail, and Blue Marsh
- Scholarships to four very deserving, bright, and talented high school seniors who participated on a Berks County high school cross country team
- Through the success of our 2022 PPAC races, we were able to give back approximately $6,000 (possibly more–with a couple races yet to come this month!) to our local community by way of donations to Special Olympics, Friends of Nolde, Blue Marsh Trail improvements, Oley Ambulance Association, PPAC Scholarship Fund, and Berks County Cross Country Coaches Association.
We kept busy with a variety of social events this year including:
- Wallyball
- Yoga outdoors at Fawn Hill Hopyard
- Pool party with both a pre-ride and pre-run
- Pickleball
- Christmas party
- What, no Wine & Cheese this year?! Have no fear, it’s coming back on September 16th, 2023!
A big THANK YOU goes out to each and every one of you who have had a hand in these successes. Without you and your dedication, none of the above-mentioned things could happen. Looking forward to 2023!
Michelle
Pagoda Pacers News 