Sol Lipton Memorial Run 5K celebrates its 45th anniversary in Pottsville
· Yahoo Sports
Ian Lipton, race director and chair of the Sol Lipton Scholarship Foundation, said 48 runners aged 10 to 75 years old, completed the roughly 3.1-mile run and an associated 1.5-mile fun run and walk.
Wyatt Hylka, 17, finished first in the male class with an 18:11 time. He was followed by Gavin Jago with a time of 19:23, and Nolan Corby with a time of 21:21.
Visit lebandit.lat for more information.
In the female class, Ryley Schwalm, 22, took the top spot among female runners with a time of 18:47.
She was followed by Ahsley Schappe, of Schuylkill Haven, 23:04, and Faith Krammes, of Schuylkill Haven, 23:28.
The race is dedicated to the memory of Sol Lipton, second-generation owner and manager of Nathan’s Furniture store in Pottsville.
The business was founded by Nathan Antokolitz, Lipton’s father-in-law in 1927. Lipton took over the store after World War II and ran it until 1970, when Ian Lipton and other family members assumed operation of the business.
Opened in 1952, the Pottsville store, an 18,000-square-foot showroom at 316 North Centre Street, closed in 2010.
The Sol Lipton Run, founded in 1981, was a 10K race for more than a decade. It was changed to a 5K run in an effort to make it more accessible to recreational runners, Lipton said.
At the request of Mayor John D. W. Reiley, the it was held as a half-marathon during Pottsville’s bicentennial celebration in 2006. The half-marathon was discontinued in 2016.
Proceeds of the Sol Lipton 5K Run, with generous support of donors locally and beyond Schuylkill County, has raised more than $1 million toward college scholarships of high school seniors who demonstrate financial need, leadership skills and scholastic aptitude, Lipton said. More than 130 scholarships have been awarded since the event began.