The Dash for Developmental Disabilities (DD) 5K Color Run hosted by Highco, Inc. will be held on Saturday and begin at 9 a.m., according to Miranda Newton, CEO of Highco, Inc.
Registration for the event is $30 for adults, $25 for people ages 6-17 and $10 for those younger than that. Check-in begins at 8 a.m. Saturday. Newton said the run starts behind the Hillsboro courthouse.
She said there are multiple ways to sign up for the event including visiting the Dash for DD event page on Facebook where there is a link to sign up and pay the fee online as well. She said the link will close sometime Thursday evening. Another way to sign up for the event is to go to Highco, Inc. where the organization has registration forms and fees can be paid there. The organization will also have a period from 3-6 p.m. on Friday when people will be able to pick up their T-shirts if they have already signed up. She stressed that people can also register on Saturday starting at 8 a.m.
There will be signs posted around Hillsboro to help runners know where to go, and the Hillsboro Police Department will be at bigger intersections to help control traffic.
Newton said the event started thanks to a former employee’s idea to do it in 2015 when it was called the Dash for DD. She said the event has took place each year since 2015 except last year due to the pandemic. She said it is for those with developmental disabilities because those are the people Highco serves in Highland as well as surrounding counties.
Newton said Highco has been in business for over 40 years helping people in the area with developmental disabilities with services such as every day home needs, getting jobs in the community, and working on daily life skills.
Newton said that the event isn’t “even about the money,” but rather to bring awareness to Highco. She said it was originally held in March to coincide with Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, but that the organization found out quickly why that wasn’t a good idea because of the cold, saying the first year it was 23 degrees during the run.
She said the run is non-timed and will have five different color stations with a different color of powder at each of them that will be thrown at runners. Newton said the powder is basically corn starch which doesn’t stain but does stick to the shirt given to the runners.
She said there are around 75 to 100 people currently scheduled to run.
“We have had a great turnout, actually, every year that we’ve done it, and this year we really weren’t planning on doing it but the city of Hillsboro kind of wanted us to, so we had a rush to get it going and the community gave us enough sponsors,” Newton said. “It’s been wonderful.”
Newton said this year’s event might not hit some of the bigger attendances as previous years, but that it is a huge staff builder for the organization. She said the color run has previously helped the organization buy one of its bigger vehicles and get air-conditioning in its new building.
Newton said that it’s really hard for her to say what her expectations are for the event. That’s because COVID-19 taught her to be ready for anything. She said the event has previously had over 400 runners and that she doesn’t know if there will be that many.
“I think, this year especially, it’s kind of getting things back to normalcy,” Newton said. “I’ve heard that from a lot of people. It’s outside so it’ll obviously be more Covid-safe. Getting people out and just doing kind of a normal thing this year. And then also, just to bring awareness on what Highco does … We want people to know we’re here, here’s what we do. If you need our services get a hold us, if you know somebody that does, get a hold of us. We would love to add more as we can. Just to kind of bring awareness. That’s our main goal.”
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
