Dash For Mat's Bash A Big Success

Saturday was a busy day in the ville. Following the Harvest Moon Festival there was the Dash for Mat's Bash later on toward the evening of October 3. The "Dash" was the brain child of Wellsville residents Tim & Annie Long. It was organized to raise money for the Mathugh Johnston Scholarship Fund. Since the scholarship fund was founded a senior WHS football player has been awarded one for the past two years at the annual Awards Assembly. Next spring I believe they are also going to have a second scholarship for a senior female athlete.

I never knew Tim Long until he showed up at a Council meeting this past summer seeking approval to block off the streets. Both the Longs and a host of others had already been busy lining things up. That was just the beginning of hard and dedicated work a lot of people put in organizing this first annual event. There was soliciting donars, begging, ordering shirts, taking registrations and other administrative details. By the start of the race there was 270 registrants. In a note yesterday Tim said "I am truly humbled and proud of the entire village". He could add overwhelmed to that.

The race was dedicated to the memory of Mathugh Johnston and Bob Grimm. The WHS cheerleaders were there at 3 o'clock Saturday passing out the race packets that included t-shirts and race numbers. The WVFD & WFD made the fire station available for their use. Later on the firemen and members of the WPD provided traffic control for the race participants. Tri-County had an ambulance and crew on hand for just in case emergencies. Thankfully they were not put to work. Rev. Dirk Hall was there to offer benediction and he took part walking in the race. There were bags of treats & pumpkins for all the young ones. Medals were awarded to the first ten male and female finishers and donated door prizes were drawn. There was a list of sponsors and others that assisted that is too long to mention individually. Never the less they were all deeply appreciated.

The race/walk went from Village Hall up Main, across 9th, up Riverside to 6th and back down Main to finish at Village Hall. It was 1.2 miles long. There were participants from toddler age on up through all age brackets. Mary Johnston, Mathugh's grandmother, walked the route along with Mrs. Gail Grimm, Bob Grimm's wife, just to mention a couple of names. The over all, number one, winner was Megan Monte. Megan and her younger brother Mario had just competed in the Stark County Cross Country meet earlier in the day. Marcus Allison came in second. Jeff & Susie Haugh had just returned from taking part in the Buddy Walk in Richmond, Ohio. That's an annual big walk for the National Down Syndrome. They said there was over 50 participants from this area down there. Bob Long's grandson, Lorenzo Ferrera, came up from Benwood, WV, to take part in the race. Lorenzo was in the golfer costume with knickers. Bob was his caddy.

For a first time event it was an impressive turn out. It just made you feel good with the number of folks that showed up to take part and helped with what I consider a worthy cause. It's more proof positive that the ville is indeed some place special.

We had over 280 pictures of the "Dash". I tried to get a good cross of everything in the two collages. Unfortunately there were many other good shots that I couldn't fit in and for that I apologize. As always you can click on either picture to enlarge. The guys from wkmxlive taped everything and I think that will eventually show up on the WHS Alumni site.

Thanks to the Longs and all the others that put this all together. It was special. Tim tells me they are already kicking around ideas for the next one. Even if they don't make any changes or additions I'm looking forward to it.

ole nib