LJCC to host Sam Lapidus Run on Thanksgiving

At the Levite Jewish Community Center, the Sam Lapidus Montclair Run is a Thanksgiving morning tradition.

The LJCC has hosted a Thanksgiving morning race for more than 40 years, but it was renamed for Lapidus, a young LJCC member who loved running and fitness, after he died due to Ewing’s sarcoma in 2008. Lapidus was 15 years old.

This year’s race day is Nov. 22. The run has a 5K and 10K course that takes runners along Montclair Road and surrounding streets, as well as a 1-mile fun run. The 5K and 10K both start at 8:30 a.m., and the fun run starts at 10 a.m.

Last year’s event had more than 1,200 runners.

LJCC Director of Operations and Development Dan Tourtellotte said a new feature in this year’s race will be team competitions. Runners can choose to sign up as part of a team and the LJCC encourages teams to fundraise in advance of the race for child-hood cancers.

Tourtellotte said there will be awards for the largest team and the best team average time.

Registration is $36 for the 5K and 10K and $18 for the fun run. That fee increases to $40 for the two longer distances after Nov. 21. All proceeds go to benefit the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders, at Children’s of Alabama.

Get more information about the race at samlapidus.org. Register at slmr.itsyourrace.com.