The Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (SCAVMA) will host its first Tails and Trails 5K and fun run on Aug. 22 at Town Creek Park.
The 5K will begin at 7:30 a.m. and the 1 mile fun run will start at 7:40. The registration fee for the race is $25 after Aug. 17 along with a $2.50 registration fee. A sign-up is online.
Dogs can run with their owners, and there will be a technician from a vet hospital checking weight and health.
SCAVMA at the Auburn Vet School has over 400 members, which is about 95 percent of the vet school students, according to Rachel Maloney, president of the Auburn SCAVMA. There is a SCAVMA in every vet school in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.
The Auburn University Vet School is the oldest in the South and the seventh oldest in the nation, according to Janet McCoy, director of communications and marketing for the College of Veterinary Medicine.
“We try to do some different community service events as well as fundraisers for our chapter so this event is going to serve for both,” said Maloney.
This is the first time the event has been held, but Maloney hopes to do it annually.
“We would like a pretty good turnout this year, probably 100-250 runners, and we would like people to really enjoy it so that they are looking forward to coming back next year as well” Maloney said.
Last year SCAVMA raised money for breast cancer.
Money from Tails and Trails will be donated to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which will take place in Auburn in October.
According to Kylye Roberts, community service chair for both SCAVMA and Omega Tau Sigma, the organization likes to focus on causes that are not as widely known.
SCAVMA will partner with Omega Tau Sigma, a vet fraternity, for the walk in October. The organization would like to get about 20 people on its team and is planning to discuss reaching out to the community in its next meeting.
Roberts said that she got the idea for SCAVMA to do events benefitting Alzheimer’s when her friend's grandparent passed away from the disease.
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