5K Fun Run Through Vancouver’s Historic Reserve

When:  Thursday, October 13 at 7:00 AM 
Where:  Hilton Convention Center (east entrance on Columbia)
Who:  Options for faster and more easy-going runners! 

Start your day off right with Vancouver planners who will lead you on a 5K loop through the National Historic Site, which showcases several key periods in the history of the Pacific Northwest and the Nation. The run will take you by the following sites:

• From the convention center, head under the I-5 Bridge along a short stretch of the Columbia River.
• Head inland over the Land Bridge which connects the Waterfront to the National Historic Site (designed by artist Maya Lin as part of the Confluence Project for the 200-year anniversary of the Lewis and Clark’s Expedition).
• Run past Fort Vancouver, site of the Hudsons Bay Company trading post in the early 1800’s and one of a few National Parks inside a city’s boundaries
• Pause at Pearson Airfield Museum, site of a spruce mill for building airplanes in WWI and also the landing site following the first non-stop flight over the North Pole by pilot Valery Chkalov from the Soviet Union in 1937.
• Jog uphill to Officers Row and Parade Ground, site of the U.S. Army base from as early as 1840’s and former home to famous Generals U.S. Grant, O.O. Howard, and George C. Marshall, now owned by the City of Vancouver and operated by the Historic Trust.
• Pause at the Academy Building, a former hospital founded (and designed) by Mother Mary Joseph, a Catholic nun, whose statue is in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. At the time it was built, the Academy was the tallest building between Seattle and San Francisco.
• Head through downtown (it’s all downhill from there) past new developments and along the historic Main Street, past Esther Short Park (oldest public park in the Northwest) and back to the Hilton.

Bring your running shoes and we hope to see you there!