Saturday July 9, the yearly Utica Boilermaker Race took place with over 9,500 runners and a calculated 15,000 volunteers. We were there and it was great. As in the past, the American Martial Arts Institute set up a water station with 40 gallons of water and four dozen cut oranges. The point of the station was not just to supply water, ice and oranges for the runners and our team but also to offer words of support and encouragement for everyone that passed by.

This year's corporate team was made up of Mr. Mark Sanson, Mr. Peter Freedman, Mrs. Cheryl Freleigh, Mr. Art Santiago and Mrs. Kathy Chard. Also running in the race and wearing our school T-shirt was Nicole Stanulevich.

A special thanks to Mrs. Melissa Morris, one of our Tai Chi students, who made the arrangements for our T-shirts to be printed and available. This year they had a large school logo on the front and back and were bright orange so that they helped everyone find our runners in the pack.

At the end of the race, runners and volunteers went back to the martial arts school's main location in Yorkville for a cool down, food and refresshing drinks and relaxing talk. It was a great day for the runners and everyone that helped. Along with Miss Linda Moller, the organizer for this years involvement in the Boilermaker, Grand Master Crandall extends thanks to all who helped make it possible, especially Mr. Eric Stalloch who organized the water station as well as the food and set up back at the school for the after-race get together.