The Harvard Conservation Trust is an independent, nonprofit organization that actively seeks to acquire lands through gifts and purchases and has helped to protect more than 850 acres since its founding in 1973. For the past several years, the trust has counted on the proceeds from its main fundraiser, Run for the Hills, to help its continuing efforts to preserve rural Harvard.
Registration is currently open for the trust’s eighth annual 5K Run for the Hills and 1-mile walk/run on Sunday, Oct. 21, starting at 10 a.m. Those who register by Oct. 5 will receive a free T-shirt. There will be age divisions by increments of 5 years, and prizes will be awarded to the top finishers in each category.
Molly Squire (left) and Helena Justicz celebrate after last year’s Run for the Hills. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Participants will find themselves at a different location from the past, with new challenges and a greatly expanded range of activities. According to race director Jim Lee, the trust received requests for a more challenging route, so it took the opportunity to collaborate with the Community Harvest Project and the Conservation Commission for a venue with more hills and more activities. The goal is to make the race not just a major fundraiser for the trust but a community event as well. The trust hopes to have a three-piece bluegrass fiddle group and a post-race assortment of local food grown or prepared by trust members.
The race will start from Community Harvest at 115 Prospect Hill Road, opposite the entrance to Fruitlands Museum. The building, which houses apple processing machinery and open gathering space, is surrounded by gardens and apple orchards. The 5K will be challenging as it winds its way high up into the orchard and across Dean’s Hill and Prospect Hill conservation areas before returning to Community Harvest. A mile-long course for running or walking will loop through the orchard, providing great views of the valley and mountains to the west.
Lee said the collaboration with Community Harvest fits perfectly with the trust’s mission. Both nonprofits want to protect rural Harvard and be good stewards of the land for public benefit. Community Harvest grows produce and berries and these, along with apples in the fall, are delivered to area food banks. The trust also collaborated with the Conservation Commission to use its trails on Dean’s Hill and Prospect Hill.
An eight-year tradition
The first Run for the Hills race was in 2010 and was started by Ted MacMahon, a trustee of Harvard Conservation Trust. MacMahon instituted the race because it was a perfect melding of the trust’s mission to preserve rural Harvard and his own love of running. Lee commented that trail runs were very rare at the time. The original course was at Harvard Park and included some of the fields of neighbors as well as the Conservation Commission’s Stone land on Old Mill Road. MacMahon continued for five years as race director, and the fundraiser was held in September. Lee took over as director when MacMahon left the trust. “I forgot not to volunteer,” he joked.
Two years ago the course was altered because one of the neighbors was selling his field, and last year the trust “changed the time to help set up for this year’s race in the later fall when temps are a bit more pleasant,” said Lee. It seemed time for a change in venue as well.
After expenses, all of the proceeds go to the trust’s efforts to preserve rural Harvard. Recently the trust has been involved in preserving Horse Meadows Knoll, Fuller Dudley Woods on Old Littleton Road, and a conservation restriction on a Still River Road parcel. Its current goal is to raise funds for the purchase of John’s Field on Slough Road.
Visit RunForTheHills.org or HarvardConservationTrust.org for information and registration.
