The 36th Shiver by the River is complete!!!! We had 713 finishers throughout the 4 races, with 162 runners completing the series. In looking at all of the months, our fastest runners for the series were 5K: Aiden Igielski (17:32, January race); Ty Diaz-Cruz (19:29, March race); and 10K: Jonathan Thrush (32:02, December make-up race); Ty Diaz-Cruz (41:57, January race). We thank every runner and volunteer who joined us! We are always appreciative of everyone that joins us, but this series was difficult, with the December race postponed for a few weeks and an arctic blast in Feb. We can’t thank you enough for your support. Runners remember, though; it’s on those terrible weather days that you get the best finish place!!!!

In March we had 147 5K runners and 57 10K runners. Congratulations to the top M/F 5K runners, Charles Fries (17:50) and Ty Diaz-Cruz (19:29); and the top 10K M/F runners, David Hitesman (37:40) and Stephanie Bender (42:44).  

Results for each race, plus the series results, can be found on pagodapacers.com. Awards that were not picked up at the banquet are at Fleet Feet (705 Penn Ave, West Reading) and can be picked up any time during normal business hours until April 10^th.

Special thanks to Elaine & Alan Cook, and Michael Whalen, who brought the Pacer trailer to the races. This is such a huge help!!! 

As always, THANK YOU to all the Pacers who participated either by running, volunteering, or both! We sincerely appreciate all of our volunteers, whether you helped us at one race or every race, whether you have helped us for years, or whether this was the first time you volunteered for Shiver. Everyone was so willing to do whatever was needed to make this series another success! I don’t want to mention specific names for fear of forgetting someone, but volunteers, you know who you are, and runners, you know who they are – you see so many of the same volunteers parking cars, at the water stop, at the same registration table, at the same intersection, or inside the farmhouse supplying soup, pretzels, and various snacks.  THANK YOU!!!!!!!  

The awards ceremony was again held at the Temple Fire Company, in Muhlenberg Township.  THANK YOU to the following for the donation of door prizes:  

Redner’s

Fleet Feet

Joanne Patti 

Victor Emmanuel 

Rose Hagy

Pretzel City Sports

Tom Sturgis

Alecia Bradley

Tiffany Pantoja

Judy Anttonen

Yuriko Beaman

Donna Hey

Aaron Kreider

THANK YOU to our sponsors:  

Dieffenbach’s

Thank you to Fleet Feet not only for their door prize donations, but they also donated Gift Cards to our overall Male/Female winners.

Please contact Sue Jackson at shiverdirector@pagodapacers.com if any door prize donors were missed.

If anyone has any comments, concerns, or questions concerning the series, please contact one of the race directors. We value your input, and we read the surveys, making modifications when possible.   

We have already begun preparations for next year. Jim Dietrich Park is reserved for the 2^nd Sunday in Dec, Jan, Feb and March; and Temple Fire Co is reserved for the 2^nd Sunday in March.  We’ve started conversations about swag for next year. We hope to see everyone next year, and bring a friend!!!!!!!

Sue, Georgine & Tiffany

Thank you to the 76 5k runners, 41 10k runners, and the many volunteers who braved the arctic cold in February to help us have another successful Shiver by the River on February 8^th.  Admittedly, it was one of our smaller races, but given the brutal temperatures, we are thankful for each and every one of you who participated. To those who did race, you most likely got a low number of points to count towards the series awards!

Congratulations to the top M/F 5k runners, Charlies Fries  (18:16) and Lisa Zwierzyna (23:49); and the top 10k M/F runners, David Hitesman (39:22) and Stephanie Bender (46:39).  Thank you to runners and volunteers who continue to support us!!!!!!

Shiver#4 will be held March 8^th. Take note – this is the beginning of Daylight Saving Time!!!  

As always, we need more volunteers for this race. Specifically, we need 3 or 4 people willing to take results off of the board, so that the race directors can calculate results as soon as possible.  We also need the usual help with parking and registration, on the road, at the finish line, cleaning up, at the water stop, and within the house serving soup. Anyone helping with registration should plan to arrive at Jim Dietrich Park between 8:15 & 8:30; anyone helping during the race should plan to arrive by 9:30. To help us with volunteer assignments, we prefer that volunteers contact us prior to race day. If you have not already talked to one of us, please reach out to Georgine via Facebook or Instagram, or email her at gmmccool56@comcast.net.   

However, for as much as we need volunteers, we would really like to see more PACERS run the race!!!!   

The awards ceremony will be held immediately after the 4^th race at the Temple Fire Company, 4963 Kutztown Rd, which is about 3 miles from Jim Dietrich Park. This is the same location as the last couple of years.

We are looking for more door prizes. If anyone can donate personally, or secure a door prize, please bring it to the 4^th race. Donations can be given directly to any of the race directors or dropped off at the front table where we are selling old swag, etc. It would be appreciated if you could let us know in advance if you will be able to donate. To be eligible to win a door prize, simply complete the survey at the awards banquet. 

A cold buffet, including a hot vegetarian item, will be served starting around 11:15, followed by door prizes and then the awards. Due to the costs associated with the party, we will follow the guidelines we established a few years ago.   

The party is FREE to everyone who has either:

1. Finished 3 or more races in this year’s series – please bring your race number from the 4^th race to the party, it will be your ticket for free entry.  There will be a sticker on your bib, indicating your eligibility.  
2. Assisted with any of the races.
3. Paid for the series.  

We will be charging all others (including Pacers who do not fall into one of the above categories) a $15.00 fee to help cover some of our costs.

Remember, to help us maintain accurate results, DO NOT COMPLETE ANOTHER REGISTRATION FORM if you already ran this year. If you paid for the series, registration is in the front room of the house. If you are paying race-by-race, we have a number for you at the “Single Race Registration” table in the 2^nd room. If you have not previously registered for the 2025-2026 series, registration is at a different table, also in the 2^nd room.  

Thanks for all the support we have received! We hope to see many of you at the Shiver, either running or volunteering!!!!!

Sue, Georgine & Tiffany

Our next race is Sunday, Feb 8^th, at Jim Dietrich Park in Muhlenberg Twp.  Registration opens at 8:30 a.m.; both races start at 10 a.m. What makes us unique is that runners can decide at the end of the 5k loop if they are going to finish the day with a 5k or do a 2^nd loop to complete a 10k. However, we do have a cut-off of 40 minutes to be eligible to start the 2^nd loop. If you have never run this race, or maybe you haven’t run it for a few years, come out and join us and reconnect with runners you haven’t seen in ages!  

We had 2 races in January. Jan 4^th was the reschedule of Dec 14^th and Jan 11^th was the scheduled January Shiver.

The January 4^th 5k had 124 finishers, with 58 runners completing the 10k. 1^st male and female finishers in the 5k were Aiden Igielski (18:29) and Lori McClure (21:01); with Jonathan Thrush (32:02) and Raine Fussner (46:29) finishing as top male/female runners in the 10k.  

The January 11^th 5k had 146 finishers, with 64 runners completing the 10k. 1^st male and female finishers in the 5k were Aiden Igielski (17:32) and Lori McClure (20:58). Jonathan Thrush (32:32) and Ty Diaz-Cruz (41:57) were the top male/female runners in the 10k.

 As always, we thank the volunteers and the runners who came out to support us!!!

Please remember to only complete the registration form ONCE during the series. As we have done in the past, we will have 3 separate areas for registration. We calculate the series results by bib#, so each runner will have the same bib# each month. If a runner completes more than 1 application, he/she will have more than 1 bib#. 

1. Pre-registration is in the front room (for those runners who have paid for the entire series). 
2. For those runners who are paying for each race individually, and who ran either of the two previous races, registration is in the 2^nd room, at the table marked “Post-Registration Single-Race Entry.” We have a number with a label with your name. No need to complete a new registration form. If you do, there is the potential of being recognized as a different runner when it comes time to calculate the series results. If any information needs to be changed, just let them know when you get your number; no need to complete a registration form with the changed information.
3. For those runners who have not registered for the 2025-2026 Shiver, registration is in the 2^nd room at the table marked “Post-Registration.”  

Looking ahead, our 4^th race in the series will be held on March 8^th. The awards banquet will be at the Temple Fire Company immediately following the race. It is free to all runners who completed 3 or more races and free for volunteers; there is a minimal charge for everyone else.  We are always looking for door prizes to be given at the awards ceremony. If you own a business, or know someone who owns a business, or you would like to donate something yourself, we would be very grateful for merchandise, gift certificates, gift baskets, or any small item that a runner would appreciate. Door prizes can be brought to either of the next 2 races or the February Pacer meeting. We plan to send a thank-you email to all of our donors, so if you donate or secure an item for us, we would appreciate knowing exactly what was donated and contact information for the donor.

We all know the weather has been brutal, and we don’t even want to mention this, but IF the race has to be postponed, we will send an email to all runners who have provided us with an email. There will also be posts on both the Pacer website and Pretzel City Sports website, along with Facebook posts. We make this decision as early as possible, but when the storm hits overnight, we may not make the decision until the morning. We appreciate your understanding.   

We hope to see more Pacers run the remaining Shiver races. If you choose not to run the race, please consider volunteering. We need volunteers before the race, for parking and registration; during the race – on the road, at the finish line, and in the farmhouse; and after the race – for cleanup. If you can help prior to the race, please plan to arrive between 8 and 8:15 a.m. If you can help with the race itself, please arrive no later than 9:30 a.m. To help us with volunteer assignments, we prefer that volunteers contact us prior to race day. If you have not already talked to one of us, please reach out to Georgine at Facebook or Instagram or gmmccool56@comcast.net.  

Thank you in advance for your support!

Hope to see you there!!!

Sue Jackson, Georgine McCool, Tiffany Pantoja