By Chad Hershberger

“How many of you have never been here before?” About half of the 200 people gathered at the start of this past Saturday’s Dandelion Run raised their hand when Joel Heasley, organizer of the trail run, asked that question. Some gasps came out of those in attendance as we all realized that Camp Mount Luther’s Dandelion Run attracts new people to use our ground!

For those who don’t know, the Dandelion Run is a benefit 5- and 10- kilometer entry-level trail run, with runners traversing the woodlands at camp.

As well as the new folks, there were a lot of familiar faces on-site. Many of them have been at this run for most if not all the 23 years it’s been held. In fact, one of the runners is now in his 80s and diligently participates every year. Coming in second in the race was our camper, Ben Hayes, of Danville. Ben is also on our youth ministry team and his mom is an alumni staffer and current board member. Board President Gary Schaffer donned his running shoes and did well in his first 5k race in a while. There were folks from across the Upper Susquehanna and even a camper alum who now lives in the Harrisburg area. It was a fun morning.

Results of the race are posted on the here. The Dandelion Run started in 2002 when the family of Rev. Glenn E. Heasley, Jr., asked about doing a trail run to benefit the camp. Glenn was the former Assistant to the Bishop of the Upper Susquehanna Synod. The family decided to name the race the Dandelion Run because that was Glenn’s favorite flower. He said that no matter what you do with dandelions, they always rise again!