WHITEHALL — The fifth annual Run White Lake 5K brought a blast of color to the White Lake Maritime Festival Saturday morning, with over 500 sign-ups and 278 timed finishers in the race.
The race is sponsored by White Lake Nutrition, whose owners, Rob and Jenna Sorensen, recently launched a new nonprofit, Bridge & Bloom Project, with a mission of promoting mental health among local students.
"Our vision is to help create a community where students feel seen, supported, connected, and encouraged as they grow," Rob Sorensen said in a July email to the Mirror. "Young people today are navigating challenges involving mental health, belonging, confidence, nutrition, leadership, and access to positive mentors and resources. We want to help bridge those gaps by bringing schools, families, businesses, and community members together around our students."
Jenna Sorensen welcomed the community to the run and outlined that vision before the action turned to the traditional pre-race prayer and then the color toss, sending untold amounts of color dust into the air. Jenna later competed in the race herself - and, at 40, beat many of the runners in her age bracket, finishing 86th.
Whitehall running superstar Bobby Jazwinski was easily the top finisher, finishing with a time of 16:46.2, and other recent local cross-country runners like Wesley Mair (second), Carter McIlroy (third) and Ian Dennis (fifth) also dotted the top of the leaderboard. (Bobby's younger siblings, Sammi and Johnny, also each placed in the top 10.)
Volunteers surrounded the course and whipped color dust at those interested, and before many runners had even arrived, the color dust functionally repainted the asphalt path, which went just over a mile and a half out along the bike trail before turning around.
