×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Sponsors are Backbone, Help Make Race Run

By IAN HICKS

City Editor

Proceeds from this year’s Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic will help the J.B. Chambers YMCA in Wheeling welcome children to their summer camp who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it, provide summer child care to working parents and more.

It will be the eighth consecutive year the Ogden race will donate funds to a local charitable cause, and the second straight year the YMCA has been the recipient. None of that would be possible without the generosity of numerous sponsors who partner with race, which takes place Saturday on the streets of Wheeling.

Major race sponsors include Bordas & Bordas, Wheeling Hospital, United Bank, Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration, Project BEST, the Ohio County Commission, the city of Wheeling, Mountain River Physical Therapy, Steptoe and Johnson, Riesbeck’s Food Market and Bob Robinson.

“We have outstanding sponsors,” said Race Director R. “Scat” Scatterday. “They are motivated to make this valley a better place through the things they can do.”

Jamie Bordas, president of the local YMCA’s board and partner at race sponsor Bordas & Bordas, said the Ogden race is one of many special events that makes the Ohio Valley unique.

“It’s one of the reasons I chose to come back and work in the place where I grew up,” Bordas said. “For us, it was an easy decision to get involved with sponsoring this event.”

As for the YMCA, Bordas recalls countless hours after school shooting hoops at the Elm Grove facility waiting for his parents to get done with work.

“It’s interesting how things come full-circle,” he said. “These were things that were important in our childhood and becoming the people who we are today.”

Mountain River Physical Therapy has been providing pre-race physical therapy services for runners and walkers and will be on hand with 10-12 clinical staff members to deal with issues participants may experience.

“We’ve built our company off of community involvement, especially with our recent expansion inside the YMCA,” said Mountain River physical therapist Michael Angalich. “We’re really excited to be a part of race day.”

YMCA Executive Director Adam Shinsky said the organization is incredibly grateful to be receiving support from the race for a second straight year.

“It’s absolutely huge for us, especially at this time of the year,” Shinsky said, noting interest in the YMCA’s programs picks up as summer approaches. “We never turn anybody away.”

Shinsky said about one-third of the YMCA’s clients — he estimates about 20,000 people who take advantage of their programs each year — require some type of financial assistance. Last year, the YMCA also gave $66,000 in memberships and program fees to other organizations to help them raise funds.

“We’ve never selected the same organization two years in a row, but they are so dynamic in their philosophy that they never turn anybody away,” Scatterday said. “We feel the YMCA makes unbelievable use of the funds we are able to give them.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today