SAN MARINO NEWS
The San Marino Tribune has announced that proceeds from their annual 5K Run & Walk, scheduled for Monday, July 4th, 2005 at 9:00 a.m., will benefit the J.P. Blecksmith Leadership Foundation at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada. The scholarship fund is named for J.P. Blecksmith, a former star athlete and Flintridge Prep graduate, who was killed during active duty in Iraq on November 11, 2004 as a member of the United States Marine Corps. Blecksmith had graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Blecksmith received the Bronze Medal of Honor posthumously last month during a ceremony at Camp Pendelton.
The foundation has passed the $150,000 mark, and organizers would like to see the fund reach $240,000 where it can be self-sustaining.
The Tribune’s 5K Run & Walk will also serve as a training run for San Marino’s Mary Gilbaugh, a friend of J.P.’s, who along with seven other friends will run the Marine Corps Marathon in honor of Blecksmith.
“We are honored to name the J.P. Blecksmith Leadership Foundation as the beneficiary of our event,” said Clifton S. Smith, Jr., publisher of The Tribune. “J.P. was a real American hero and his family has paid the ultimate price to assure our country’s freedom.”
The run will start at 9:00 a.m. in front of The Tribune’s headquarters at 1441 San Marino Avenue. Runners and walkers will head west on Monterey, north on Old Mill Rd., east on Mill Lane, behind Lacy Park, east to Oxford, north to Orlando, east to San Marino Ave. and south to The Tribune.
The Rotary Club of San Marino will dedicate their new clock immediately following The Tribune’s race awards ceremony.
For race sponsorship opportunities, please contact the Tribune’s advertising department at 792-6397.