By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
Earlier this month, three Cazenovia High School athletic teams (boys and girls cross-country and girls volleyball) raised $1,000 each for the Cazenovia Fire Department and the Cazenovia Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps (CAVAC) through the virtual “Independence Run.”
In lieu of participating in Cazenovia’s traditional July 4 foot races, runners/walkers were invited to independently complete a virtual race any time July 1-7.
Participants self-timed their 1 mile, 5K and 10 mile runs and the hosts maintained an unofficial results page for the events based on the self-reported times.
According to a letter to the editor from the teams’ coaches, more than 150 runners took part in the event and 96 donors contributed $4,651 to support the athletic teams and first responders.
“Special thank you’s to our generous sponsors: Ralph Monforte/Cazenovia Jewelry, Bankers Healthcare Group, AmeriCU, Community Bank and Cazenovia Community Fitness,” the letter said. “Many thanks also to Leone Timing for their gracious support and expertise setting up the virtual race and to USA Racing for help with the race tee shirts. We hope to be back to usual on July 4th with our partners at the Syracuse Chargers next year, but thank you to everyone who helped us to make the best of our circumstances in 2020.”
On July 16, Helen Hausser of the volleyball team presented a check to Fire Chief Tim Parisou and cross-country runners Davis Litera and Molly Hart presented a donation to CAVAC President Sara Mitchell.
