Thanks to GYO family for staffing our 'Reach the Beach' effort

To The Daily Sun,

This past Friday evening, residents of Gilmanton and the surrounding communities may have noticed the signage that appeared on various roads for Reach The Beach (RTB) but had no idea what it was all about.

I won't go into a ton of details about the race specifically but it's a running relay race that starts in Bretton Woods and ends at Hampton Beach. Teams of runners will run for a combined 200-plus miles over a 24-hour period. Gilmanton Elementary School is a transition area (TA) for where runners exchange positions on their way to the next transition area. To handle traffic flow through Gilmanton School, the Reach the Beach organization seeks out charitable organizations to provide staff for this event.

For the last several years, Gilmanton Youth Organization (GYO) has been asked to provide volunteers to park cars and record runner times. In exchange for this work, RTB compensates GYO in the form of a significant donation. This is not easy work in that typically there are 475-500 teams of 12 in which we will see (minimally) half of the 5,000-plus participants in an eight-hour period.

This event provides a significant benefit to our community in that the last two years GYO has partnered with Gilmanton Cub Scouts Pack 242 to provide food for the runners. Between both organizations, this one night will net nearly $2,000 in total for these organizations.

On behalf of GYO and Scouts Pack 242, we would like to thank all of our volunteers who gave up a night of sleep and to Reach The Beach for giving us the chance to raise funds without having to focus solely on the parents within our own community.

If you would like more information about how you can help GYO or Gilmanton Cub Scouts Pack 242, email me adam.mini@gyonh.com or Patty Cameron at scoutpack242@gmail.com.

Adam Mini

Gilmanton