The Running Chicken The Running Chicken Fun Run Returns

By Christianna Marks

Everyone’s favorite 10K/5K was back this year with the 5th annual return of The Running Chicken Fun Run. The muchloved fun run took place on Sunday, January 8, at 9 a.m., with 430 walkers and runners registered for the race that celebrates the lives of local sisters and runners Brittni and Brynn Frace.

“We’re excited. Can’t believe it’s been five years that we’ve been doing this, but the event has continued to grow, it’s got a lot of community support, and it’s really allowed us to further the mission of Brynn and Brittni’s foundation,” said their father, Warren Frace.

Like last year, this year’s Running Chicken was conducted in a hybrid fashion. While many of the fun run participants headed out to Lake Santa Margarita in person, 50 people also participated virtually from all over the country.

“We decided to keep virtual as an option because we know we have people from around the country that want to participate. They can’t actually get out to the race course,” added Warren.

The Running Chicken Fun Run had something for everyone. The 5K, mostly flat, portion of the course is set up for participants of all levels and ages. More experienced runners gave the 10K section a go. There they faced plenty of challenges, including “the wall.” The race course at Lake Santa Margarita is the same one used by the cross-country team at Atascadero High School. It’s also the very same course that Brynn and Brittni ran themselves.

“It’s a pretty course. It’s a challenging course. And that’s why we picked it for the location of this [fun run],” Warren said. “When they [the participants] are out there running the race, you can picture Brynn and Brittni running those exact same hills and turns.”

Continuing with tradition, the Kiwanis Club was there to make a pancake breakfast for all the racers and walkers once they crossed the finish line. The Kiwanis Club said they made more pancakes this year than ever before.

The Fraces, who pick the Running Chicken’s theme yearly off of things that their daughters created, decided this year’s theme for the race would be “Be Nice — Say HiYa.”

“That’s something that Brittni came up with, she had a sketchbook, and she would draw pictures and write little inspirational notes and whatnot,” Warren explained. “We used to go up to Oregon in the summer, and there was a sign you’d see on a lot of the hiking trails that were up there, basically a ‘share the trail’ kind of sign. It would say, ‘be nice, say hi,’ and the whole idea was for mountain bikes, equestrians, and pedestrians all to share the same trail. So she actually drew some different drawings of that, and that’s what got incorporated into the poster.”

This year, the top three winners of the 5K and the 10K in both the women’s and men’s categories received stained-glass chickens made by artist Deborah Nottenkamper. A distance runner herself, Deborah was also good friends with both

Brynn and Brittni.

This year’s winners were:

5K Women: Frances Perry, Quinn Dubrul, and Colleen McCandless.

5K Men: Oliver Baker-Ballantyne, Bailey Aiello, and Adrian Garcia.

10K Women: Annie Meeder, Nora Pizzella (who ran wearing Brynn’s race bib), and Ellie Nisbet (who ran wearing Brittni’s bib number).

10K Men: Connor Fisher, Anthony Perez, and Jason Reed.

“After the accident and we lost the girls, we had this vision to create this foundation to honor their memory, and the whole idea was to be able to give back to the community and spread positive thoughts and ideas and encourage kids to be in sports and whatnot,” Warren Frace stated of the Run 4 Bitti and Brynn Foundation. “That was a great idea back in 2018, but with everything that’s changed in the last five years, it seems like that mission is even more important than it ever was. So, the ability to just kinda have a positive event and really promote the overall community and help young kids stay focused on achieving their goals is a really great thing to be involved in these days.”

So far, the Run 4 Bitti and Brynn Foundation has given away $21,000 in high school scholarships for kids going to college, and they’ve also given away 250 pairs of athletic shoes to kids in need. To find out more about the foundation, visit run4bittiandbrynn.org