April 29, 2003
FAIRFAX, VA ... The fifth annual Patriot Anti-Violence Education (PAVE) 5-kilometer Fun Run/Walk was a big success, raising more than $12,000 for the Aimee Willard Endowment Scholarship Fund.
The event, held Sunday on George Mason University's Fairfax campus, attracted 250 runners from the George Mason Intercollegiate Athletics Department and the neighboring community. The race consisted of two laps around Patriot Circle on the George Mason campus, with the finish line at the Patriot Center. More than 100 of the participants were non-student-athletes, the largest turnout in the five-year history of the event.
George Mason women's track & field assistant coach Alisa Harvey was the women's champion in the 5K run. The men's winner left before he could be identified and receive his plaque.
The PAVE 5K Fun Run/Walk is sponsored by the George Mason Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the university's Department of Sexual Assault Services, and it raises money for non-violence education while helping to bring the community together in support of victims' rights. Funds raised go to the Aimee Willard Endowment Scholarship Fund, which honors the memory of a former Patriot student-athlete. More than $95,000 has been raised for the Aimee Willard Scholarship Fund over the five years of the event.
Willard was a two-sport athlete at George Mason, playing soccer and lacrosse. She was a member of Mason's 1993 women's soccer team that was the NCAA Division I runner-up, and she was an All-Colonial Athletic Association and regional All-America selection in women's lacrosse in 1996. In June 1996, while home during summer break, the 22-year-old Willard was abducted, raped and murdered in Philadelphia, PA. Arthur Bomar Jr. was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death.
U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was one of several sponsors for the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Oct. 28, 2000. It has popularly become known as "Aimee's Law."
The keynote speaker was Laurie Markon, an advocate with the Alexandria (VA) Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit, and her organization and the George Mason Sexual Assault Services Victims Rights Fund each received donations of $250. The Patriot baseball team also received an award as the George Mason team raising the most money with $2,900.
Other speakers included George Mason University President Dr. Alan Merten, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Kate Hanley, Patriot Club Executive Director Lory Stimson and Patriot women's lacrosse alumna Erin Miller. Gail Willard, Aimee's mother, was unable to attend.
Sponsors for the event included the George Mason Intercollegiate Athletics Department and Patriot Club, George Mason Sexual Assault Services, GMU Catholic Campus Ministries, Brion's Grille, Domino's Pizza, Dixie Sporting Goods, Alltech Title, Greg Cox (friend and fan of George Mason women's basketball) and Jon Larranaga (Patriot men's basketball alumni).
