Loveland, Ohio – We hope you will join us for the Amazing Charity Race ~ Leprechaun Chase in Loveland on March 15.
If you took part in this last year you know it was a blast. And to sweeten the deal? All proceeds from the race go to DOITFORJACK.
We are so excited and grateful to be the non-profit for this event. Thank you to the amazing hosts for considering us, and to the many sponsors making it happen! (More on those amazing groups to follow!)
And if you are looking for some good conversation around the dinner table tonight…ask your family how they think Leprechaun is spelled.
_____________
The Jack Quehl Foundation Is on a Mission to Educate Our Community About The Dangers of Fentanyl Poisoning
The Jack Quehl Foundation was established in 2022, in loving memory of John Thomas (“Jack”) Quehl, who tragically lost his life due to fentanyl poisoning on September 20th, 2021.
Loveland, Ohio – Although racers are instructed to obey all traffic laws, thousands of participants will gather in downtown Loveland on Saturday for the Amazing Charity Race.
The Amazing Charity Race started in 2005 as Loveland’s Amazing Race and has grown into one of the biggest races in the whole Cincinnati tri-state area! With a little bit of this and a little bit of that – we make you walk, run, ride, think and do – all for the fun of it!
WHAT IS IT??: It is a full day of good natured competition, music and food and laughs. The race committee is laughing itself silly coming up with fun challenges. It is not a triathlon or a 5K race. It is not limited to runners or highly athletic individuals. It is a race in that it has a start and finish line but along the way it challenges the contestants in many ways. It is a fun, quirky, adventure that challenges the contestants agility, balance, coordination, strength, intelligence, problem solving skills, fine motor skills, and most importantly, their sense of humor.
An annoucement this morning from the Board of Directors of the Amazing Charity Race
Dear Racers,
No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” – Alfred North Whitehead
A small group of us wanted to create a unique, family-fun event that challenged you physically and mentally. We weren’t certain we would run 2 Amazing Charity Races, let alone, make it to year 17!
After much consideration, The Board of The Amazing Charity Race has decided that this year’s race, to be held on Saturday June 18th, will be our final race.
We are proud of many things but most proud that we’ve been able to give back to so many deserving charitable groups that helped support the race over the years. Many volunteer’s time and talents made it possible for tens of thousands of race participants to experience a fun and unique day! We are grateful to all and want to acknowledge their tremendous work in making our adventure a reality.
We hope you can help us make this last race a memorable one! Please spread the word among friends and family to sign up for the race or to join a charitable group in volunteering. We will need each and every one of you to be successful one last time and give back to the community.
This year we are going back to our original roots, the race will be run in Loveland and Symmes Township!
The Amazing Charity Race has returned! This year will see a somewhat shorter race but still have the same fun. The event details are below. Follow the event page for important race updates. Stay tuned!
Since its inception in 2005, the Amazing Charity Race has raised over $600,000 to more than 20 charities in the Greater Cincinnati Area. The Amazing Charity Race started in 2005 as Loveland’s Amazing Race and has grown into one of the biggest races in the whole Cincinnati tri-state area! With a little bit of this and a little bit of that – we make you walk, run, ride, think and do – all for the fun of it!
WHAT IS IT?
It is a full day of good-natured competition, music, and food, and laughs. The race committee is laughing itself silly coming up with fun challenges. It is not a triathlon or a 5K race. It is not limited to runners or highly athletic individuals. It is a race in that it has a start and finish line but along the way, it challenges the contestants in many ways. It is a fun, quirky, adventure that challenges the contestant’s agility, balance, coordination, strength, intelligence, problem-solving skills, fine motor skills, and most importantly, their sense of humor. You are invited whether it is to compete or join our team of over 500 volunteers so come enjoy, have a great time for a good cause and as always expect the unexpected. Racers must be AT LEAST 13 years old to do the race with a parent. At 16 years old, racers can do the race with another 16 year old. Available divisions: Parent/Child, Male/Female, Male/Male, Female/Female.
Milford, Ohio – It’s been a hard year of staying inside and missing amazing community events due to the pandemic. We know you all missed us last year, but it’s time to get out and have some fun again. That’s why we are excited to announce that the Amazing Charity Race is returning in 2021.
After making the hard decision to postpone the annual Amazing Charity Race in 2020, this year’s race will be taking place on August 28, 2021. The 15th annual race will take place in City of Milford, Ohio. This will be one of the first races in the tri-state area to have a live crowd since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
With Covid-19 cases going down in the tri-state area, we still value the safety of our race participants and will have a set of guidelines to keep people safe. Compared to the past few races, this year’s race will see a somewhat shorter course, but still have the same good-natured fun from past races.
The Amazing Charity Race started in 2006 as Loveland’s Amazing Race and has grown into one of the biggest races in the whole Cincinnati tri-state area. Amazing Charity Race is a more fun, less stress race that challenges your agility, balance, strength, problem solving skills, and most importantly your SENSE OF HUMOR. 100% of race entry fees goes straight to local charities after any race costs.
We hope you’re ready for a day of fun-filled adventure. Create your teams and sign up here:
Loveland, Ohio – With Spring just around the corner, competitive races and obstacle courses will soon be in full swing! Although it may seem that your local 5k’s, 10k’s and tough mudders are, all the same, there is in fact, one race that will be taking place right along the Little Miami Bike Trail that is anything but ordinary! The Amazing Charity Race is not only taking Loveland by storm but has now officially been named the “Best Charitable Race” in Cincinnati, according to Cincy Magazine’s annual Best of the East competition!
For those who are unfamiliar with The Amazing Charity Race, the race itself was created in 2006 with a goal of giving 100 percent of its proceeds to charity! The ACR, which is set for Saturday, June 20th at 8 A.M. beginning at Fifty West Brewing Company, is a day full of fun challenges that venture along the Little Miami Bike Trail! This race is made to challenge contestant’s agility, balance, coordination, strength, intelligence, problem-solving skills, fine motor skills, and most importantly their sense of humor! This year teams of 2 can run, walk and ride through 20 strange, fun, and crazy challenges. But don’t worry you don’t have to be an extreme athlete to participate! All you have to have is the drive to challenge yourself and of course, be willing to push yourself for charity! Teens 13 to 16 can team up with a parent or teens 16 and up can team up with other teens over 16.
Jenny Lytle, Tom Grome and Kevin McMillian standing by ACR’s well thought out slide show and flyers at Cincy Magazine’s Best of the East event!
This year representatives from The Amazing Charity Race Board attended the Best of the East event on January 23rd hosted by Cincy Magazine at the Holiday Inn Suites on Eastgate Blvd. ACR’s committee put on quite a spread for the community at the Best of the East event, which included an excellent slide show and well thought out flyers. Kevin McMillian, Tom Grome, and Jenny Lytle pictured to the left represented ACR with pride at the prestigious event!
Shortly after Cincy Magazine’s annual event, ACR ‘s Board was informed that the ACR was selected by the Cincinnati community to be this year’s Best in the East “Best Charitable Race!” One of the ACR’s loyal board members, Tom Grome, was beyond the moon when he received the news!
“The Best of the East award is so important to the Amazing Charity Race,” Grome explained, “Receiving this award recognizes our effort to provide donations to other local charities and validates our approach to helping other local charities! We strive to make our event a positive experience for the racers and volunteers. Charitable giving has never been so much fun!,” Grome added.
Check out the crowd at Cincy Magazine’s Best of the East event at the Holiday Inn Eastgate!
Thus far The Amazing Charity Race is now in its 15th year and has already given over $700,000 to local charities including more than 50 nonprofit organizations in the following areas: Teen and Youth Programs (e.g., scouting, music, sports), Church Groups, Community Groups (e.g., food pantries, land conservation, theatre, arts) and Health-related Groups (e.g., cancer awareness and research, programs for the disabled).
Doug Portmann, co-founder and race director of the ACR, said the award meant so much to him “because of all the volunteer groups that put time and effort into making it such a great event! The community really appreciates it. If it was not for the almost 500 volunteers each year the event would not run like clockwork year in and year out,” Portmann added.
Kevin McMillian, the ACR’s marketing guru who represented the race at the Best of the East competition couldn’t agree more with Portmann!
“Being at the Best of the East was an amazing experience. Getting to experience other nonprofits and businesses at this event, was a great way to network and make new relationships to further impact the community,” McMillian explained, “As for winning one of the Best of the East awards, it was rewarding to see the impact Amazing Charity Race has on this community and makes us more motivated to put on a fun event and to continue helping charities that need it,” McMillian said.
Marjorie Blair, who is also on the ACR board, could barely contain her excitement when she found out ACR had one a Best of the East award!
“It’s an honor to work with so many different people with the common goal of giving back and seeing the positive impact on our local community. Through the years, putting on the race has become a well-oiled machine,” Blair said, “We are constantly learning and always trying to improve to keep racers, volunteers, & sponsors coming back. The combined effort for the greater good is truly appreciated.”
The Amazing Charity Race Board also includes Dustan Bray, Jenny Lytle, Terrie Puckett, Brian Garry, Scott Thompson, Michelle Ripperger, and ME, Cassie Mattia!
With this big win, ACR will be featured in Cincy Magazine’s Best of the East 2020 issue.
If you would like to join the best charity race in Cincinnati visit the race’s website at https://www.amazingcharityrace.com/ or follow the ACR’s Facebook page @LovelandsAmazingRace.
Loveland Magazine is extremely proud to be one of the many sponsors of the Amazing Charity Race!
Learn more about the Amazing Charity Race, how your group can volunteer, how you can be a corporate sponsor so even more money is raised, or to register for the 2020 race.
The Amazing Charity Race is always held on the Saturday of Fathers Day weekend and there are always a lot of dads teamed up with their children. In the photo above, Kailey Hammer is leading her dad Matt through the swim-fin Jimmy Buffett Paradise bungee-cord-course. They crossed the finish line together, holding hands celebrating their morning together.
Olivia Smith is a student at Loveland High School
by Olivia Smith
Miami Township and Loveland, Ohio – I volunteered at the most exciting and fun challenge station at this year’s Amazing Charity Race… the Jimmy Buffett “We are the people our parents warned us about” station and it was the last one racers had to complete before crossing the finish line. Let me tell you about what your friends and neighbors had to do before they were allowed to cross the finish line after a two-hour grueling race that took them to many parts of Loveland and Miami Township.
The 14th annual Race was held on Saturday, June 15th. It was a cool day outside, at about 67 degrees. It was very cloudy and rained often but it was a light rain. Just about perfect for everyone who worked so hard, including the many hundreds who volunteered. The start and finish line were at Grailville, the 300-acre retreat center just on the outskirts of Loveland on O’Bannon Avenue. This year there were20 “Challenge Stations” and about 1,100 people in teams of two, participated.
A team only feet from the finish line of the Amazing Charity Race after completing the Jimmy Buffett challenge.
About 50 local charities benefited from this year’s race and it has raised about $700,000 over the last 14 years. The money paid when participants register goes towards those different charities, so when you run in the race, it is for a very good cause. At the end of the race, participants get a chance to vote for their favorite “Challenge Station” or the one they thought had the most pep and the winning station gets an extra $500 towards the charity of their choice.
The challenges can be anything, but they are all made to be fun, physically or mentally. To get to the next station, teams either ran, biked, or “tubed” (tubing was on the Little Miami River). This year there was about 5-½ miles of biking and racing, so it was about equal. If you would like to register for the next Amazing Charity Race, you can do so by clicking on this LINK.
Teammates taking on the swim-fin Jimmy Buffett Paradise bungee-cord-course.
Another way you can participate in the race is by volunteering as I did for the second time. This year I volunteered at the last challenge in the race. This challenge was Jimmy Buffett themed. It took about 60 volunteers for the challenge to run smoothly.
The first thing participants had to do when they got to the challenge was to put a pair of swim fins and goggles on, and step over and through a series of bungee cords. Then, because of the fins, they would waddle over to a series of baby pools filled with colored water and poker chips. There they had to find 5 clear chips and get them checked by a volunteer.
The odds are in your favor at the Margaritaville Casino!
After they succeeded with that, they would continue waddling over to some pool floaties. These floaties were tall flamingos and palm trees. Participants would have to throw 3 hula hoops onto those floaties. After that, they would waddle over to some more baby pools but this time, they were inflatable pools. They would have to walk, or jump into the pool and make their way through them. Then they would continue waddling as fast as they could to the finish line, where they got to see their loved ones, brag to each other, and have food and refreshments while listening to the local band, Counting Skeletons – fins free!
The swim-fin Jimmy Buffett Paradise bungee-cord-course
The last station’s charity was the Karen Carns Foundation. I interviewed Tom Carns, the husband of Karen Carns, who founded the Karen Carns Foundation and asked him to tell me a little bit about the foundation and why it’s important to him. He said, “The main purpose is to assist grieving kids so they can stay in their schools with their teachers and friends. I get to know these kids and families who are going through the same things my kids did.” The money the organization gets goes directly to the students and families for them to use towards school tuition. Other funds are used to purchase winter coats for students. One thing Tom really likes about the race is that it is a lot of fun and it brings everyone together.
Next, I interviewed Jenny Lytle. She is on both the Race Board and the Karen Carns Foundation Board. The Race Board Members have the hard job of coming up with new ideas every year. “We start coming up with ideas the day after the race. My favorite thing about the race is all the wacky challenges and making it fun for everyone.”
Would you like to learn more or donate to the Karen Carns Foundation?
Primary focus of Foundation:
A child will never be removed from his or her environment of a private elementary or high school education due to a life-changing event that affects the family’s financial situation.
Secondary:
Embrace the true meaning of Christmas, by involving children in the charity of providing new winter coats to those less fortunate.
After Lytle, I interviewed Ed Driscoll who was in his 10th year of being involved with the race. The Karen Carns Foundation is also important to him is because he experienced very similar issues that those kids are going through when at age 9 he lost his own dad. He feels very strongly about education so the Foundation means a lot to him.I asked Ed what his favorite part of the last challenge was. “The fun part is watching groups trying to get the hula hoops around the floaties while the wind is blowing and hearing them sing Cheeseburger in Paradise.”.
Lynn Oury on the left and Cynthia Tait on the right also volunteered at the Amazing Charity Race on behalf of the Karen Carns Foundation.
I also interviewed two volunteers; Lynn Oury and Cynthia Tait. They had run the race together the first year it was held. They both love being a part of the community and it was a great way for them to do that. Tait said laughing, “I wanna be involved but I’m getting older and I can’t run the race anymore.” Oury said, “I love seeing everybody like you and people that I know, so it’s awesome.”
This short video is some clips of racers heading to the finish line after waddling, some falling, some being pushed through the waiting, wading pool.
Loveland Magazine is extremely proud to be one of the many sponsors of the Amazing Charity Race!
Learn more about the Amazing Charity Race, how your group can volunteer, how you can be a corporate sponsor so even more money is raised, or to register for the 2020 race.
This was only 1/2500 of a second in last Saturday’s Amazing Charity Race. Can you even imagine how many other moments just like this happened during the other 5 hours?
THE 2020 AMAZING CHARITY RACE REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
For all you racers who didn’t get a chance to do it this year, sign up today… this race will be THE BEST OF THE BEST!
All of your favorite challenges over the years…twisted into something new and even crazier than before!
REGISTER BETWEEN:
Sunday June 16th 2019- Sunday June 30th 2019 and get $15 off your registration fee.
On July 1st, 2019 the price will go up $15
On January 1st, 2020 the price will go up $25
Teams of 2 will run, walk and ride through 20 strange, fun, crazy challenges.
Kids 13-16 can team up with a parent. 16+ can team up with other 16+’s.
Register here to be in next year’s Amazing Charity Race
The next race will be on Saturday, June 20, 2020 in Loveland, Milford, and Miami Township.
About 50 local charities benifited from this year’s race and it has raised about $700,000 over the last 14 years.
Would your organization like to become a charity for the Amazing Charity Race? Charity groups will help run events or water stations and receive a donation from The Amazing Charity Race!
Loveland Magazine is a proud sponsor of The Amazing Charity Race.
The Amazing Charity Race started in 2005 as Loveland’s Amazing Race and has grown into one of the biggest races in the whole Cincinnati tri-state area! With a little bit of this and a little bit of that – we make you walk, run, ride, think and do – all for the fun of it!
All of your entry fees go straight to all of our charities after we pay off our expenses for the race.
WHAT IS IT??: It is a full day of good-natured competition, music, and food and laughs. The race committee is laughing itself silly coming up with fun challenges.
It is not a triathlon or a 5K race. It is not limited to runners or highly athletic individuals. It is a race in that it has a start and finish line but along the way, it challenges the contestants in many ways. It is a fun, quirky, adventure that challenges the contestant’s agility, balance, coordination, strength, intelligence, problem-solving skills, fine motor skills, and most importantly their sense of humor.
You are invited whether it is to compete or join our team of over 500 volunteers so come enjoy, have a great time for a good cause and as always expect the unexpected.
Loveland, Ohio – Although a detailed course map will be not be released until Friday night June 14th at 9 PM, this year’s Amazing Charity Race will be starting Saturday at Grailville (931 O’Bannonville Rd, Loveland, OH 45140) and ending at Grailville. The race will be on streets in both Loveland and Miami Township.
The City of Loveland says, “Please watch for heavy vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between 7 AM and 5 PM, especially in the downtown area.”
The Miami Township Police Department issued this statement:
The annual Amazing Charity Race will take place this Saturday, June 15th. The race will begin at Grailville on Obannonville Rd. at approximately 8 am. Racers will travel in the area of St. Columban Church and along residential streets into and through part of Miami Trails. They will eventually access Hanna/Branch Hill Loveland Rd. and head into Miami Riverview Park before entering the bike trail and heading back toward Loveland. All racers are expected to be out of Miami Township by approximately noon. (But the race continues into the City of Loveland.)
2017 Amazing Charity Race brings fun and charity together
Loveland Magazine is a proud sponsor of The Amazing Charity Race.
The Amazing Charity Race started in 2005 as Loveland’s Amazing Race and has grown into one of the biggest races in the whole Cincinnati tri-state area! With a little bit of this and a little bit of that – we make you walk, run, ride, think and do – all for the fun of it!
All of your entry fees go straight to all of our charities after we pay off our expenses for the race.
WHAT IS IT??: It is a full day of good-natured competition, music, and food and laughs. The race committee is laughing itself silly coming up with fun challenges.
It is not a triathlon or a 5K race. It is not limited to runners or highly athletic individuals. It is a race in that it has a start and finish line but along the way, it challenges the contestants in many ways. It is a fun, quirky, adventure that challenges the contestant’s agility, balance, coordination, strength, intelligence, problem-solving skills, fine motor skills, and most importantly their sense of humor.
You are invited whether it is to compete or join our team of over 500 volunteers so come enjoy, have a great time for a good cause and as always expect the unexpected.
Racers must be AT LEAST 13 years old to do the race with a parent. At 16 years old, racers can do the race with another 16 year old. Avai divisions: Parent/Child, Male/Female, Male/Male, Female/Female.
If you took part in this last year you know it was a blast. And to sweeten the deal? All proceeds from the race go to DOITFORJACK.
The Jack Quehl Foundation Is on a Mission to Educate Our Community About The Dangers of Fentanyl Poisoning
![[IT’S Back] 2021 AMAZING CHARITY RACE will be August 28](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/amazing-race-feature-2021.jpg)
The 14th annual Race was held on Saturday, June 15th. It was a cool day outside, at about 67 degrees. It was very cloudy and rained often but it was a light rain. Just about perfect for everyone who worked so hard, including the many hundreds who volunteered. The start and finish line were at Grailville, the 300-acre retreat center just on the outskirts of Loveland on O’Bannon Avenue. This year there were
