Delaware Charity Challenge 5K and Adventure Challenge Relay Race is this weekend, Saturday, May 2!

Registration and check-in opens at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 2. The 5K race will start at 9 a.m. sharp. Please account for ample travel time when planning your trip that morning so we can avoid any delays that morning.

Only 5 days remain before the First Annual Delaware Charity Challenge "Race to First" 5K and Adventure Challenge Relay event on May 2! As of this morning, we've collectively raised nearly $20,000 for the charities of the teams participating in the Raise To Raise Fundraising Challenge. You can see all of the teams and their chosen charities can be found here on the Delaware Charity Challenge website or on the Delaware Charity Challenge Crowdrise page. 

The team captains have been sent emails about their runners and which races they are categorized in along with the parking passes and some other race information. A separate email will go out to all pre-registered runners tomorrow with the parking pass. Pre-registered runners will also be on a list given to Lums Pond so you will not need to pay an admission fee when you arrive that morning. 

We will be able to process some registrations that morning and will continue to process online registrations for those truly late registrations, but with this caveat: Anyone who registers after today is not guaranteed to be placed to run with any particular team. Instead, they will be categorized in the open 5K race category. T-shirts are only guaranteed if you pre-register.

Race logistics and some more specifics about the day will be sent to the runners and captains separately, so please make sure you are checking your emails if you have not been getting anything from us or from your team captains.

We have several area specials courtesy of some of our sponsors. You can see these by visiting the Sponsors page on the Delaware Charity Challenge website.

Virtual Leaderboard of the Race to Raise Fundraising Competition

The Team Fundraising Pages are updated in real-time and can be seen at the Delaware Charity Challenge Crowdrise Page.

With only four days to go before the Race to Raise Fundraising Challenge ends, the top three teams are still in a tight race, with a few different lead changes over the past few days. As of 11:30 a.m. this morning, Team Veritext for Ministry of Caring is in the lead with $5,225 raised for Ministry of Caring (more than $2,000 since last week). Team Cure Sanfilippo is in second with $3,915 raised for the Team Sanfilippo Foundation (more than $1,500 since last week). Team End Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is in third place, with $3,436 raised for Muscular Dystrophy Association (more than $450 since last week). Catching up in fourth place is Meals On Wheels Delaware with a combined total of $3,010 raised between their official team and Team Monroe Energy (which designated Meals on Wheels Delaware as its nonprofit beneficiary).

The total sum raised so far between 25 teams (representing 24 different charities) is $19,373. And with 3 days still to go, the race is definitely on!

The Raise to Raise competition will end later this week, on Friday, May 1 at 11:59 p.m. EST. We will take the official screenshot and post it at that time and announce the winners at the race the next day and also in a variety of other ways. You can support any of the teams and their causes by clicking on the blue Donate button on their team page atwww.crowdrise.com/challengede. If you have any questions about how you can be raising money for your team, please contact me or your team captain, or share your team's fundraising page link.

Per request of many teams, the team fundraising pages will remain open until May 31, 2015 for additional any additional donations that people would like to make to your team or charity after the Race to Raise competition ends on May 1. The prize pool money and team prize money won for the team's charity will be deposited on May 4 to the team pages.

A great job to these and all the teams in the Race to Raise! 

Fundraising Tip of the Week: Final week push

Last week, we summarized five effective ways to fundraise and posted that article here on the Delaware Charity Challenge website.

Deadlines have a wonderful way of reminding friends and family and social networks about things you may have reminded them about. Because the Race to Raise Fundraising competition ends this week, you may want to email, post, and share your team fundraising page one last time and ask for donations one last time.

A simple post to Facebook, social media, or to your friends via email would be:

All: I am raising money for [INSERT CHARITY HERE] as part of the Delaware Charity Challenge that I am participating in. The deadline to donate to our team fundraising page and have the donation count toward the Race to Raise fundraising competition is Friday, May 1. Please consider donating to this great cause and all donations are tax deductible and go to the charity. You can donate to our team page here: [INSERT YOUR TEAM FUNDRAISING PAGE LINK FROM CROWDRISE].

Question of the week: What is the timeline for the day and are there any other specials going on for runners or participants? 

This banner will be flying at the main entrance to Lums Pond (1042 Howell School Rd, Bear, DE 19701).

We will be posting information to our website and to our Facebook and Twitter pages all week, so please check them out for the most up-to-date stuff. 

Order of events: 
7:30 - Check-in/registration opens at Area 1 of Lums Pond (for maps of Lums Pond and the XC course click here)
8:30 - Adventure Relay Challenge begins (Event 1: zipline)
9:00 - 5K race/walk begins
9:20 - first group of 5K runners should be finished
9:45 - last group of 5K runners should be finished
10-10:15 - Adventure Relay Challenge Event 5/6: Team puzzles should begin
10:30 - last group of 5K walkers should be finished
10-10:30 Kids Potato Sack Races / Rocky Bluewinkle
10:30 - Adventure Relay Challenge finish
10:45 - Awards / end

Specials (click here for the full list of our of our sponsors and offerings for the race participants and runners):

Aqua Sol (3006 Summit Harbour Pl, about 5 minutes from Lums Pond) is offering a $10 lunch special to race participants from 11 am to 6 pm on May 2. You can download the coupon for this special here.

Caffe Gelato (in Newark on Main Street) is offering lunch and dinner specials on Friday, May 1, Saturday, May 2, and Sunday May 3. Race participants get 15% off their lunch, brunch or dinner checks, or they can elect to get the 15% donated to the charity of their choice featured on the Delaware Charity Challenge CrowdRise page.

Rehab and Wellness Chiropractic Center Tent. At the race on May 2, there is also going to be a tent from the Rehab and Wellness Chiropractic Center in Bear that will have a massage chair and some giveaways from their office. Be sure to check them out.

As always, if you have other questions about the event, please contact us.