Jess Skillings and others helped organize a 5K, “Lace Up for Leukemia,” to benefit former Skowhegan and Husson field hockey standout Liz Noddin. The race was held Saturday in Skowhegan and the goal was to raise $5,000.

Noddin, 22, was recently diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia, a form of cancer. The money was being raised to help fund Noddin’s living expenses in Boston while she undergoes six months of treatment, as well as for her parents to visit her during that time.

Typically 5K races don’t raise thousands of dollars, but this one was a happy exception.

“When I just deposited our check, it was $6,000 and we still have more money coming in,” said Skillings, who played field hockey with Noddin at Skowhegan and now plays for the University of Maine. “We had a lot of people who showed up and ran the race, and a lot of people who showed up and donated on the side of the road.”

Skillings thinks the large turnout — she doesn’t have exact numbers, but burned through about 100 registration forms — is because Noddin touched so many people in different parts of Maine.

“It wasn’t just Skowhegan people who came,” Skillings said. “It was people from all over the state.”

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Sometimes a race and its race director are linked together in other ways. Lauren Downie is the fitness and nutrition center director at PLATES: House of Fitness & Nutrition on Seavey Street in Waterville. Downie posts videos riffing on things like whether she can find something healthy at a gas station, or the size of the Organic Foods section in an out-of-town Hannaford.

So it’s not a shocker that Downie is the race director for a children’s triathlon, with the goal of showing children and their parents the health benefits of being active. The Beat Feet Kids Triathlon for youngsters ages 4-15 is Saturday in Waterville, beginning at the Alfond Municipal Pool on North Street.

“The tagline (on) the poster says, ‘Helping kids get up, get out, and get active since 2008,'” Downie said. “Basically, that’s what our mission is — it’s just getting kids up off the couch.”

There are three different age groups, and you can register for the race here. There is no on-site registration on Saturday, but you can also register at PLATES between 4 and 7 p.m. on Friday.

Every child who enters receives a medal and a T-shirt, and for the younger competitors, a parent can help them in the pool.

“We really just try to make it as laid-back and fun as possible,” Downie said.

Downie said she is still looking for volunteers for the race. If interested, you can contact her at contact@platesforlife.com or 877-1314.

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The Bond Brook 5K Trail Race series in Augusta has completed four races this season and has this week off before resuming next Thursday, Aug. 21. Through those four races there’s been a great battle between Jeff Jones and Joe Viselli for the overall lead. The two have finished 1-2 in some order in every race.

It didn’t start out as a great battle, as Viselli finished in 21 minutes, 3 seconds to win the first race of the series well ahead of Jones in 21:48. In the second race, Viselli and Jones both clocked in at 21:09 but Viselli was declared the winner.

Jones picked up his first win on July 31, holding off Viselli 21:10 to 21:31. Viselli had his fastest finish this past Thursday with a time of 20:51, but Jones edged him out at the line by just one second.

Overall, each has two wins and they’ve been separated by a total of 23 seconds.

On the women’s side, Jenna Krajewski has won two races, while Maranacook cross country coach Rosalea Kimball has won one and finished second twice. Cony sophomore-to-be Anne Guadalupi also has a win this season.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Matt_DiFilippo