Youth Villages 5K & 10-Miler: another can’t-miss event

Youth Villages 5K & 10 Miler celebrates 38th Anniversary

Register for the April 18 race at yvraces.org

Youth Villages, a private nonprofit organization, will hold its 38th YV5K & 10-Miler on April 18. The 10-Miler starts at 8 a.m. The 5K starts at 8:30 a.m. on the same course from last year.

More than 1,100 participants are expected for the race, and all runners must be registered by 7:45 a.m.

Amy Loyd Linthicum, then a volunteer at Memphis

Boys Town, started the race in 1982, organizing it from the trunk of her car with the help of a committee of Realtors from Memphis Area Association of Realtors. The early races supported the boys who were receiving help at the facility on Memphis-Arlington Road. Four years later, Youth Villages was formed with the merger of Memphis Boys Town and Dogwood Village – now known as the Bartlett and Dogwood campuses – and the race has continued to help the children of Youth Villages ever since.

“It was very humble beginnings,” Linthicum has said. “Back then, the (Memphis Runners) Track Club had these big clocks, and you put one up on top of your car. At the finish line, you just put a piece of tape across the street, and the clock was ticking as people ran across the piece of tape. After the race was over, I went home and counted all of the money, I took the race results, called The Commercial Appeal – I basically just hauled everything around in the trunk of my car. Everybody teases me about it.”

While the race holds the same name and has many of the same volunteers behind the scenes, it has grown quite a bit since it was run from Amy’s car. The race now includes both a 5K and a 10-mile course. There are activities for the entire family after the race, including a bounce house, a band, food and beer for

Youth Villages 5K founder Amy Loyd Linthicum.