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Jacob Conley of Henrietta recently participated in the Big South Conference 5K held each year to raise funds for Middle School Athletic Programs throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. He place first in the 5K.
The 5K was held virtually this year because of COVID-19 and Conley received special permission to do the 5K on his handcycle.
"Not only did it allow me to get in some miles training for Cycle to the Sea, it was also supporting a great cause," Conley said.
"It felt great, felt great, especially seeing Gardner-Webb University, who I was representing at the top of the leaderboard," Conley said of his first place win. "I'm an ultra competitive person, and I wanted to see GWU ahead of all the rest of the teams in the conference, so I pushed extra hard. It was like is some small way I was able to give something back to them for all the memories and experiences that I enjoyed during my time there," he said.
Conley rode out to Cowpens Battlefield with another Rutherford County native Steve Gilbert on October 19 finishing with a time of 15 minutes and 10 seconds.
Conley is a regular participant in Cycle to the Sea. The race was different this year as he was participating for the 11th year.
Because of COVID, instead of the entire group riding from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, groups of two to three riders took different segments.
"I rode from Cheraw South Carolina to Bennettsville, (about 17 miles on Oct. 24th)," he said.
"It wasn't the "normal ride but it was good to get back on the road for a great cause(raising money for the ASAP program)," he said.
