A story ran over the weekend in the Press Democrat featuring two Casa Grande alums who staged a footrace back in 2005 as a fundraiser for the Old Adobe School District’s Enrich and Educate Fund.

Five years later, Chris Mason and Ian Inman are obviously no longer high school seniors, yet here they are, still volunteering countless hours to staging a footrace that is expected to draw upwards of 900 athletes April 18.

Mason is a senior at Sonoma State studying finance, holds down a full time job at a travel company, works part time at a running store in Petaluma and still manages the race – on his own time.

“That first year it was just a 3.5 mile run/walk around the neighborhood,” he said. “We definitely have changed That is the only year we did it there. Once we decided we were gong to make this a bigger event, we took it to the Petaluma Marina.”

Now runners from Empire Runners and around the Bay Area come to compete and raise money for technology purchases for the five elementary schools of Old Adobe.

Mason’s English teacher who oversaw his senior project back in 2005, said to see that morph into the event that is staged today is an educator’s dream.

“This is definitely by the far the project that has been the most successful. I absolutely love it,” she said.

For more information on the race, go to www.petalumafootrace.com

To read the story, click here http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100304/NEWS/100309769?tc=ar