The third annual Be Kind 5K went off without a hitch this past Saturday, April 5th. Over 400 brave souls battled the wind, cool temperatures, and occasional sprinkles of rain to make this year's iteration a huge success.

Newcomer Dr. Emily Sherrard, the Medical Director at Advanced Spine and Sports Medicine, showed she will be a force to be reckoned with by besting a stacked field in the women's race. The top three female runners were all in the top ten overall as Emily finished 6th followed by Megan Lysek-Hagy 8th and Kellie Shimer 9th. The top three women all broke 20 minutes over this challenging course.

In the men's race, Pat Haneman came all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin only to be bested by men's champion Richard Barni. Barni finished in a respectable 18:02.15, with Haneman finishing just 13 seconds behind. The biggest performance of the day may have been Gert Freas with an AMAZING 90.2 age-graded score in the women's age-graded masters race. In the men’s age-graded masters competition, Johnny King-Marino was victorious with a score of 81.6.

Since the course was new this year, there were no course records.

The race benefactor is the Kin Wellness Center and the race ambassador was local survivor and thriver Chris Baccash. Chris is a Doylestown resident who is a member of the acclaimed Bike Works Team. He was the pace bike for the Fun Run and 5K.

Kin is an all-inclusive 5,000 sq ft retreat center, offering integrative services, support, fitness, and therapy. The Center is free to any Bucks County, PA residents battling cancer regardless of where they are receiving treatment, also welcoming family and caregivers. Kin is made possible by generous donations from the local Bucks County Community. Kin’s mission is to help people find calm and peace and center themselves in a restorative environment. They strive to help bring people to a place where they feel empowered to manage their diagnosis through treatment, recovery, and beyond. Find out more here: https://www.welcometokin.org/