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Nov. 22-28, 2014: Vol. 13, No. 32; • 1-888-323-1662 • Fax 330-264-1132 • holmescountyshopper.com
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Calendar November Veterans Service meeting is Nov. 24 The Veterans Service Commission Board Meeting will be held Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m. Office hours are Monday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Tuesday-Friday, 8:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. The office will be closed Nov. 27-28 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. See Pg. 2 — CALENDAR
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Runners gearing up for challenge of tough Amish Country Half-Marathon By KEVIN LYNCH Staff Writer The third annual Amish Country Half-Marathon is set for Nov. 29, beginning and ending at Hiland High School. Race Director Mark Fowler is a running enthusiast who is excited about the continued growth and success of the event. “Alan Zinck and I talked about this for more than five years,” Fowler said. “Small Hochstetler came along one day and said ‘Let’s do it.’ We started with the three of us coordinating it.” “I’ll give you all kinds of ideas, because I’m the brainchild type of person, but then I need somebody to come along behind me and sweep up the pieces and do the grunt work,” Zinck said. “Mark has been the one who has done most of the grunt work.” Fowler says he and Zinck drove around to check areas out for the course. “We wanted a loop, we didn’t want an out and back,” Fowler said.
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Runners from all over the nation and one from Puerto Rico are already signed up to participate in the third annual Amish Country Half-Marathon, which is set for Nov. 29. “We tried to figure it out based on what runners like. We wanted to stay out of downtown Berlin because it’s a busy weekend there, but we wanted to be able to touch Berlin. As we set the course, we realized we were on the fringe of Charm and Walnut Creek, which is why we changed the name to the Amish Country HalfMarathon. “I’ve been told it’s probably one of the toughest courses in the whole half-
marathon circuit,” Fowler added. “It’s very hilly. The course goes from the high school down to Charm, across to Walnut Creek and finishes back around the high school.” He says when they finished their initial drive of the course, they came up about half a mile short, so they added a little jaunt up a county road that the pacers call the “Berlin Mountain.” “It was a pretty steep hill right there and it was
a nice little add-on that adds to the challenge,” Fowler said. There is also a 5k race and a two-team relay on the half-marathon and a mile fun run. The 5k race is the cross country team’s practice course, that has one long, slow hill and a nice steep hill that you get to the top of and turn around and go right back up again. “It’s kind of brutal, because you can see what’s coming,” Fowler said.
“So many marathons are run in the city and it’s city block after city block,” he added. “This is a beautiful course out on scenic hills, full of unique stuff. We go past three Amish schools and those kids are there handing out water at each of those schools.” Rest room facilities at the Amish school house are another of the unique things runners will find See Pg. 5 — RUNNERS
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