Second annual 5K to be held this weekend

JACKSON, Tenn. — Prepare to lace up your running shoes for a good cause.

The Friends of Heart will host their second annual 5K this weekend.

The course will begin at Fleet Feet on Oil Well Road on Saturday, February 11 starting at 8 a.m.

This is the first event of the year for the foundation’s Healthy Hearts event series, and the first event in the Jackson Road Runners Points series as well.

All funds received in the event will support local cardiac care efforts. That includes the Jackson 4-Minute City program and student athlete EKG screenings.

Caitlin Roach-Clark, the Executive Director for Friends of Heart, explained the benefit of EKG screenings for local students.

“At North Side High School on February 28, we’re going to have the opportunity for all of our student athletes, band, ROTC students to be able to receive a free EKG screening to check their heart. Because you could have a birth defect that you don’t know about. There’s like seven or eight conditions we’ll be looking for, and then we’ll go from there,” Roach-Clark said.

The EKG screenings will be offered to qualifying private, public and homeschooled students.

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