This past weekend, the Hammond Rotary Club put on their second annual 10k race. The Shamrock Run took place on St. Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17. The race began, and ended, in Friendship Circle. President of the Hammond Rotary Club, Ron Taylor expressed his enjoyment of the day.
“This is our second year out here. The first year we actually finished on the 50 yard line of Strawberry Stadium, but we like this location better, I think we’ll stay here,” said Taylor. “This year, we had just fewer than 250 runners, so participation was great.”
Among the many sponsors were the North Oaks Health System and All American Chiropractic. All of the proceeds from the race will be distributed throughout various Hammond charities, which included OPTIONS, a program which offers services for people with disabilities, TARC, which provides early intervention services for individuals with disability and their children, D.A.R.E and Child Advocacy Services.
The winner of the race, Garrett Tregre, is a junior at Southeastern studying engineering technology with a minor in music. He crossed the finish line with a time of 41:45. This was his first time competing in the race. The third place winner was an 11-year-old Albany native named Dawson Gildig, who has competed in several other races before this one.
The route had a pit stop for the runners across the street from the new kinesiology building. Kinesiology and health studies students were there handing out cups of water to runners, and cheering them on to the finish line.
“Somebody from rotary called me. I know Mark Franavich from the rotary club, and he called me and asked if I could get some students together and I said sure,” said Eddie Hebert, head of the Kinesiology and Health Studies.
Other sponsors for the event were VooDoo BBQ, Subway, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, Coca-Cola and Raising Cane’s.
“Ron had asked us to come out and participate again this year, and we did it last year too. We did good last year with participation, though we were right at the finish line and they all wanted water, but this year it’s set up a little different so I don’t think it will be a problem,” said Alan Mayhem, a managing partner for Raising Cane’s.  
The lawn of Friendship Circle hosted the after party for the runners, where they were treated to free fruit, pulled pork sandwiches from VooDoo BBQ, green lemonade and sweet tea from Raising Cane’s and jambalaya cooked by the Tangipahoa Sheriff’s Office. There was also a tent set up where All American Chiropractic was giving free services to the runners in need of a stretch.
 To find out more about the Hammond Rotary Club, visit their website at www.hammondrotary.com or call Joe Mier at 985-230-0730.