The Monster Mash Dash in Alamosa: Fun, Food, Costumes, Community

Cassie Mitchel
The Paw Print

Thank you to those who participated in and volunteered at the Monster Mash Dash on Saturday, October 30. Volunteers from La Puente, as well as students from Adams Sate College’s Organization/Administration of PE class, helped put on the 5k race. The money raised,, along with any canned goods collected from the event,, went to the Food Bank Network of the SLV. Any leftover food provided for the runners that morning was also donated to  programs of La Puente.
The volunteer students worked with worked with various businesses that were willing to donate gift cards to provide refreshments and prizes for the runners. Safeway and City Market kindly donated a twenty dollar gift card each to help provide pre- and post–race refreshments (water, apples, bananas, and granola bars) to those who attended. Chili’s donated twenty dollars worth of gift cards, which wereere split into two ten dollar gift cards to be awarded to best male and female costumes. Carlucci’s donated two baseball caps which were to be given to the runners-up of the race and Kristi Mountain Sports donated two twenty five dollar gift cards in addition to two NNalgene bottles that were to be awarded to the top male and female finishers of the race.
A total of seventeen individuals participated in the 5k, some in costumes as was encouraged for Halloween  (earing a costume also translated into a cheaper registration feealso translated to a cheaper registration).) The first individual to finish the course was Scott Kretzmann in a time of 20:03. Not only was Scott awarded as the top male finisher in the field, but also as the best male costume as he ran the entire 3.1 mile course lifting the wedding dress he sported. Second to cross the finish line and be the top female finisher was twelve-year-old Caitlin Babcock Babcock. Caitlin, in preparation for her upcoming Junior Olympics meet, finished the 5k course with a solid time of 23:20. Third place and runner–up to Scott was Paul Mascarenas with a time of 27:10.
Once the runners finished the race, they had the options of getting refreshments near the registration table or or making a Monster Mash Dash t-shirt with spray paint and a provided stencil. Overall, it was a successful morning of fundraising and fun-raising as we supported the Food Bank Network of the San Luis Valley. Overall, it was a successful morning of fundraising and fun-raising as we supported the Food Bank Network of the San Luis Valley. A huge thanks again to all the participants and volunteers for being a part of this great cause.