Jack-O-Smash 5000 slated for Sunday at Sportsplex USA

By Emily Sorensen

Get ready to smash some pumpkins — and do some good for the community at the same time.

The inaugural Jack-O-Smash 5000 will begin at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday and will be held at the Sportsplex USA, at 12349 McIvers Court in the Poway Business Park.

This fun, family-friendly event will include a 5K run and 1K walk/jog, a family fun festival, a celebrity softball game and, of course, lots of pumpkin smashing.

All proceeds from Jack-O-Smash 5000 will benefit the PoVa Theraputic Riding Center, which offers equine-assisted activities for children and adults with special needs, and Next Stage U, which is a proposed facility for post-secondary education and training for young adults with special needs. Both organizations will have booths at the event, in the Family Games arena.

The event’s goal is to raise $50,000, and as of press time, they had raised over $40,000 of that amount.

The event will kick off with the opening ceremony, which will include an airplane fly-over at 7:45 a.m., though the race check-in and registration will open at 6:30 a.m. for all participants.

The 5K race will begin at 8 a.m., and the 1K walk/jog will begin at 9 a.m. The 5k race is a timed event, while the 1K walk/jog is a relaxed, un-timed event meant for the less competitive participants.

Those interested in running in the 5K race or the 1K walk/jog can still register at www.jack-o-smash.org/event.html and click the “Register to Run” button. Registration prices vary.

The timed 5K race will start and end at Sportsplex USA. Runners will go up a gradual hill, and then run around a cul-de-sac with music and water. The return trip is slightly downhill to allow for fast finishers. Medals will be awarded to the top three winners in each age group at 9:45 a.m.; everyone who finishes the race will receive a commemorative key chain with logo.

The Family Fun Festival will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will include a number of fun and family-friendly games and events, including the Wal-Mart Family Games Arena, the SDG&E Family Entertainment Area and a Guiness Book of World Records attempt at building the world’s largest Plinko game, which will use pumpkins rather than Plinko chips on the 16-foot game board.

The Wal-Mart Family Games Arena will feature fun games like pumpkin bowling, a hay bale treasure hunt, bounce houses, obstacle courses, a petting zoo and much more. You can also take a photo with the famous electric giraffe, or in the cockpit of a Mig.

The SDG&E Family Entertainment Arena will have barbecue, beer and music, as well as the giant “punkin chunkin” trebuchet, which was engineering by students from Poway High School. The trebuchet will use balance and counter weights to throw your used jack-o-lanterns up to 60 feet.

The Family Fun Festival will also include a quiet zone, where there will be activities for those with noise sensitivities, including arts and crafts, pumpkin decorating and a library for quiet reading.

Starting at 11:30 a.m. is the celebrity softball game, which will feature Poway’s own Special Olympics softball team, the Poway Padres, as well as a line-up of local celebrities, including San Diego Padres manager Buddy Black, former Padre Heath Bell, Assemblyman Brian Maienschein and about a dozen more past and present Padres players.

Former National League Cy Young-award winner Randy Jones will throw out the opening pitch, and Padres announcer Mark Grant will emcee the game. Poway Mayor Don Higginson and the members of the Poway City Council will serve as the game’s umpires.

The event will finish up at 2 p.m. The Family Fun Festival is free; there is a cost for lunch and beer.

For more information on Jack-O-Smash 5000, visit www.jack-o-smash.org.