University 5K Walk Renamed in Honor of Northwestern Employee Killed in Bridge Collapse
Posted on April 17, 2008
Northwestern Health Sciences University will once again sponsor the CDI Back in Shape 5K Walk and Run on June 7, 2008.
However, this year the walk portion of the event will be held in memory of Patrick Holmes, an exercise therapist at Northwestern who died in the I-35W bridge collapse on Aug. 1, 2007. The walk will now be known as the Patrick Holmes Memorial 5K Walk.
Holmes had worked in the Wolfe-Harris Center for Clinical Studies since 2001. In 2003, he was named Rehabilitation Services Coordinator and provided therapy of rehabilitative, self-care and home exercise components of federally funded clinical trials.
Holmes is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and their two children, Gaven, age 7, and Rena, age 5.
Those registered for either the walk or the run will have the option of donating and/or collecting pledges for the Holmes Children Education Fund, which will provide scholarships for the Holmes’ children’s college education.
Sarah Zwagerman, clinical research administrator who worked with Holmes in the research department, said the family-oriented race is the perfect way to remember Holmes because of his dedication to both family and physical activity.
“Pat’s family was everything to him,” she said. “It’s a nice combination of family and the rehab part of him. It’s doing something active instead of just sitting around and talking about him.”
Zwagerman said the research staff is still “going through the motions” and remembering Holmes as they come across notes written by him as he worked with patients.
“It’s interesting when it happened because people think it’s a co-worker, and you didn’t know him that well,” she said. “But those are the people you go to work with eight to 10 hours a day. He was part of our research family.”
Holmes’ wife and children will start off the walk and his parents will be present as well.
Race participants will also have the opportunity to donate to either the Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People (VEAP), an organization that provides basic services to fill immediate needs in people’s lives in the Twin Cities; or the Northwestern Research Scholarship Fund, which will be awarded annually in memory of Holmes to a Northwestern student interested in research.
Following the run and walk, a buffet will include fruit, muffins, juice and coffee. In addition to cash awards for race category winners, all participants are eligible for prize drawings featuring airline tickets, gift certificates and merchandise. The awards program will feature video feed from the finish line.
A 25-meter pool, locker rooms and showers are all available to participants and their families as well as a post-race health screening and sports massage.
Those wishing to register for the walk or run, or interested in making a donation to any of the event beneficiary organizations, can go to www.nwhealth.edu/backinshape/register.html