Sunday, Nov. 6 at 8 am, Lemont held the annual “Frigid 5K”: a five kilometer or about 3.1 miles race. It was coordinated by the Lemont Park District at the CORE with lots of students and other members of the community ranging from kids to older people.The event featured a Kids Candy Cane Dash and after party as well.

It was 44 degrees at the time of the run Sunday morning. As opposed to last year’s run being -15 degrees. Don’t worry, they still had hot chocolate for everyone.

Andrew Deuschle, a freshman here at LHS, was the first to finish the race with a time of 18:03. It was Andrew’s first time participating in the Frigid 5K.

His father was there to cheer him on and there were lots of other cross-country friends there who were volunteering or running.

“The race was painful and challenging but that’s all you can expect from a distance race,” says Andrew. “My mindset for the race was just to see my competition and I felt comfortable with the pace of the lead pack, so I stuck with it.”

Jennifer Saylor, the race coordinator at the CORE says that, “The idea [for the race] originated as part of the grand opening festivities for our CORE Fitness and Aquatic complex in December of 2009 and has been going strong ever since.”

“[The race] has always been a popular local winter 5k.  Last year, we added a special kids run for children 10 and under called the Candy Cane Kids Dash. We have also expanded our after party to include a hot chocolate bar which has proven to be very popular with the participants.” Saylor explains.

This year there were 280 participants in the race. Saylor said, “The community continues to enjoy the event and it is a great way for families to get outside and do something healthy during the busy holiday season.”

Another runner from LHS was Chris Konicki, a senior and the Copy Editor for the Tom-Tom. For his age group, he came in second place and sixth overall. Chris had teammate Alli Kunkel, a photographer for the Tom-Tom, there to cheer him on.
Snow or shine, -15 or 44 degrees, the Frigid 5K will be hosted by the CORE again in the future. For more information, see the Park District website.