The GE 5K Road Race

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A reminder that the 5k Road race, which is raising money for the Petit family foundation- is coming up on July 20th. There will be a separate run for children under eight years old as well as a 1.3 mile "fitness walk" for those who wish to participate who are not neccesarily long-distance runners.

Winners and awards will be given at a Post race ceremony which will include refreshments and other activities.

The race sponsored by GE and a gaggle of other Connecticut based companies is raising money for the Petit family foundation which donates to M.S research and those affected by violent crime, among several other important causes.

The foundation was set up by Dr William Petit after a violent series of crimes took the lives of his wife and two children in Cheshire last July. The entire state of Connecticut has been deeply affected by these crimes and the local support and charitable effort in the Petit and Hawke family names continues to be steadfast nearly one year after the crimes occurred.

There have been multiple memorials and honorariums raising both money and awareness for different charities over the past 11 months, each organized with the core intention of keeping the Petit women's memory and spirit of activism alive and in the forefront of our collective consciences.

A judge presiding over the criminal case placed a gag order on those involved with the case, and little has been written in the press regarding the crimes and the ongoing criminal case since the order took effect in October 07. There has however been a great deal of attention and debate over the States woefully ineffective criminal justice system, which in retrospect clearly aided and abetted these crimes in happening.

The Connecticut legislature, urged by Governor Rell met in a special session in January and managed to pass some immediate judicial reform bills, not without the customary dissent and grumbling by heads of the appropriations committee lamenting the costs to the state. They met again in their regular session early May and passed a snaller number of crime reform bills, including a persistent offender law that is more likely to actually be used than the convoluted version that has stood largely unused by prosecutors since its inception years ago.

Dr Petit has made it clear that he wishes to focus on who his family members were
and all that they stood for during their lives among us, rather than the focusing only upon the senseless violence of their deaths.
In this way he can restore them to a positive place in his and our memory, this rather than their being forever relegated to "victims" Area Connecticut residents have honored this and responded in kind-with events running the gamut from a town-wide candlelight display, to a basketball game fund raiser, the latter organized by friends of Haley Petit who was an avid basketball player and fan.

And most recently, Cheshire, Plainville and Litchfield were among several other towns where Volunteers turned out in record amounts for the annual"MS walk", an event that was a yearly tradition for the Petit clan.
This year, friends of the Petit children organized and sponsored walk groups in the Petits name and in doing so, helped the area raise record funds for the MS Society, a group in which the whole family was involved ever since Jennifer Hawke Petit was diagnosed with the disease at age forty.
See the link above and below for details regarding the upcoming Race--You may pre-register now for the race and the fitness walk via the Website, although same- day registration is also available, beginning 2 hours prior to the start of the Race.
Pre- race registrars and the first 100 same day counterparts will receive a Race day T-shirt
commemorating the event.

The GE 5K Road Race