Racing for Coach Olinger

Britten Strong 5K returns to Pulliam Stadium

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 17, 2021

The 2021 Britten Strong Race to Recovery 5K, an annual fundraiser supporting Montreat College track and field coach Britten Olinger, will return April 18. The in-person race will feature a modified format to encourage social distancing. Photo by Fred McCormick

Since 2017, when the life of Montreat College track and field coach Britten Olinger was forever changed following a tragic wreck in the center of Black Mountain, the month of April has offered runners and walkers the opportunity to show their support. 

This year, as the Britten Strong Race to Recovery 5K returns to the Black Mountain campus of Montreat College, from 1 - 4 p.m., Sunday, April 18, the annual fundraiser is offering multiple ways to participate. 

The 2021 iteration of the race, which is organized every year by the exercise science students at Montreat College, is a hybrid event that allows those who enter to participate by completing the race on the designated course any time before noon tomorrow, when runners will begin arriving for a socially distanced in-person run. A third option enables participants to run the 3.1 miles anywhere before noon, April 18. 

Registration for each event is $30 for adults, $15 for children ages 13-17 and $10 for ages 1-12. All proceeds will benefit the Olinger family. 

Olinger was severely injured in February of 2017 when a reckless driver hit his vehicle in the intersection of State Street and Montreat Road. The high-speed collision left the coach with a severed spinal cord and multiple serious injuries. 

Montreat College hosted the first Britten Strong Race to Recover months after the tragic wreck to support Olinger and his family. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to hold a virtual event. 

This year, beginning April 9, runners were given the option to run the marked course, or any 5K route, and submit their times, but a modified format will bring the event back to the Pulliam Stadium. 

The fifth annual Britten Strong Race to Recovery 5K will return to Pulliam Stadium in Black Mountain, April 18, when runners will participate in an in-person race to support the Olinger family. Photo by Fred McCormick

The in-person race will begin at 1 p.m., when small groups of runners will be called to the starting line in 15-minute intervals. Participants are asked to proceed directly to their vehicles after completing the course to minimize contact. 

Registration for the Britten Strong Race to Recovery 5K is open through 11:59 a.m., April 18, and can be found in this link.