Grayton Beach Kous Kouri 8 and 4 Mile Races - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida - Running

The Grayton Beach Kous Kouri 8 and 4 Mile Races is a Running race in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida consisting of a 10K and 5K.

Greetings runners! I'm pleased to announce that Faith Baptist Church at Santa Rosa Beach will be hosting its inaugural Grayton Beach Kous Kouri 8 & 4-mile races at beautiful Grayton Beach State Park at 8:00a. Both races start and finish adjacent the pavilion at the end of Main Park Road and, with the exceptions of crossing over County Road 30A (CR-30A) and running to/from the trailhead, they are run exclusively inside of Grayton Beach State Park. Trail runs are a rarity in SoWal; needless to say courses this beautiful are a rarity ANYWHERE! We're also excited to announce that 100% of the race proceeds will benefit an organization called Streethearts, a rescue program for children living on the street in Cap-Haitian, Haiti. Streethearts is dedicated to ending the population of homeless children in Haiti. They offer basic hygiene, medical care, rehabilitation, education, sports, community service, and workforce training across 5 phases of lifestyle development in an effort to get these kids back into their communities as healthy, productive members of society. The mission is to empower homeless youth and impact communities through the love of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God alone, this program has grown considerably over the past few years. Streethearts began with the founder, Linsey Jorgenson, and 20 kids in a running club. No shoes, no problem! quickly became their motto and it has been growing ever since. At present Streethearts cares for 122 kids in various stages of life. To learn more, please visit www.streetheartshaiti.org. Considering Streethearts started as a running club I'd say it's only fitting that we're running to support them! And just FYI: Kous Kouri, the name of the race, loosely translates to trail running in Haitian Creole. Linsey will be flying in from Haiti to personally attend the race and greet each runner. She is thrilled at the opportunity to meet those participating and helping change the lives of her kids. I'm also pleased to announce that we're getting way creative with the race shirts. To the point, Linsey and her team will be holding an art contest with the kids at the rescue to come up with the shirt design! We're pretty excited and the kids are too. No, the logo will not be as polished nor the letters as perfect as on most race t-shirts; but seriously, how cool will this be to have your shirt designed by one of the kids!
There will be an awards ceremony beginning at 9:30a. The overall male and female winner for the 8-miler will each receive a $100 gift card GRAND PRIZE; the overall male and female winner for the 4-miler will each receive a $50 gift card. Age-group awards for both males and females will also be given.



I should take this opportunity real quick to discuss the terrain just so there are no surprises. Once the race crosses CR-30A and onto the trails, the terrain will obviously get a little more hazardous: tree roots, rocks, sand, fallen over trees, and potentially, if there's rain, standing water and mud. In other words, pure awesomeness!!! Again, I just wanted to discuss the terrain so no one shows up on race day expecting a groomed running path with no trip hazards and with aspirations of going home with clean shoes. Simply put, not gonna happen! It's one mile in distance from the pavilion to the trailhead, so only half of the 4 mile course is on the trails...for better or for worse, depending on your perspective :). That said, and illustrating my unparalleled public math prowess here, 6 miles of the 8 mile course are on the trails, which also includes a beautiful lakeside section which basically serves as the turnaround.



Lastly, there will be plenty of snacks/food for all runners at the finish line. From start to finish this should be a great event in support of an OUTSTANDING cause. We certainly hope you can make it out!