The turnout for the Hershey half-marathon was one for the books.

The Hershey half-marathon took place on Sunday, October 15th, at 7:30 a.m. The race covered 13.1 miles of Hershey. The path looped around the city, starting at the HersheyPark stadium and passing by many tourist attractions along the way, such as HersheyPark, Chocolate Avenue, and Hershey’s Chocolate World. A portion of the proceeds from the half-marathon go towards the Children’s Miracle Network.

In order to take part in the run, the participants paid a fee of 90 dollars. This covered a long-sleeved shirt, a bag of goodies, refreshments, and two tickets to HersheyPark in the Dark, an annual event held during the month of October in honor of Halloween.

The Children’s Miracle Network is an organization that raises money for children’s hospitals, such as Penn State Children’s Hospital, in order to benefit the 10,000,000 children admitted to hospitals in North America each year. According to the official website for the Children’s Miracle Network, they, through donations and fundraisers like the Hershey half-marathon, have cumulatively raised five billion dollars since the network’s beginning in 1983.

After the race, the network thanked Hershey for raising money through the half-marathon, saying on the official Children’s Miracle Network page, “Thank you to all of the participants and sponsors (including GIANT and Members 1st Federal Credit Union) for giving kids at Penn State Children’s Hospital the #GiftofGrowingUp!” The network is grateful for the run and is excited to be a part of next year’s race.