VHCC Great Expectations Race For The Future 5K

Please join us for the first-ever VHCC Great Expectations Race For The Future 5K! You'll be able to run through Virginia Highlands Community College's beautiful campus! This fun run welcomes runners and walkers of all ages and abilities.

Your participation will help raise money to benefit VHCC's Great Expectations Program. Great Expectations is a program at all of Virginia's 23 community colleges that assists students who have experienced foster care. We provide mentorship, advising, financial assistance, career coaching, employment assistance, on-campus and community referrals, and additional services to our students. Traditionally, only 8-12% of foster youth graduate from college, compared to 49% of young adults in the general population. Great Expectations students graduate at 3x the national rate. The funds we raise through this race will stay local to VHCC and will be used for gas gift cards, emergency funds, marketing and recruitment efforts, and scholarships for Great Expectations students to help them succeed in their goals.

If you have any questions or would like more information about Great Expectations, please visit https://greatexpectations.vccs.edu/ or feel free to contact Amanda Fleenor, VHCC Great Expectations Coach, at afleenor@vhcc.edu.

PACKET PICK-UP

• Join us in the Collins Student Center in the ISC Building on VHCC's campus on Friday, April 30 from 10am-6:30pm to pick up your bib and t-shirt (if registered on or before March 21, 2027)!
• 100 VHCC Dr. Abingdon, VA 24210
• Race-day packet pickup is allowed, but we prefer you to pick it up on Friday, April 30 if possible. Race-day packet pickup will be available near the race start line from 7:30am-8:45am.
• No race-day registration will be permitted.

RACE DAY SCHEDULE

• Introduction, Welcome, and Announcements | 8:50am
• 5K Run & Walk | 9:00am
• Award Ceremony | 9:45am

ENTRY FEES

• Early Bird 5K 1/06/2027 through 3/21/2026 | $30
• 5K 3/22/2027 through 4/30/2027 | $35
• **No registration on race day - registration will close on 4/30/2027 at 6:00pm
• **Registration must be received by 3/21/2027 at 11:59pm to be guaranteed a t-shirt

COURSE

• This fun and challenging course winds its way around VHCC's gorgeous 100-acre campus in Abingdon, VA. Runners and walkers will start their race in the parking lot behind the ISC Building and the Nursing Education Building, run around the roundabout, through the upper parking lot, and then briefly cross onto Opportunity Lane before making their way through trails and unpaved terrain on our Disc Golf Course for more than half of the race. Next, participants will cross VHCC Drive before racing down to French Moore Jr. Boulevard, running by the Paramont Applied Technology and Workforce Center. Finally, athletes will make their way behind the Higher Education Center, onto VHCC Drive, and up by the Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace on Opportunity Drive before an exciting finish back on VHCC's main campus.
• Course marshals and police will be stationed along the course, particularly at road crossings.
• Please note that there is a time limit of 75 minutes.

AWARDS

• The top three overall men and women will receive an award. Awards will also go to the top two athletes in their respective age groups.
• Age groups will include:
  • Girls 17 and under
  • Boys 17 and under
  • Women 18-30
  • Men 18-30
  • Women 31-49
  • Men 31-49
  • Women 50+
  • Men 50+