27th Annual Nevada Day Classic to return Oct. 29

Registration is open for the 27th annual Nevada Day Classic, an 8K and two-mile race that has become a fixture in Carson City’s Nevada Day festivities.

An annual event since 1989, The Nevada Day Classic, presented by the Tahoe Mountain Milers, brings together more than 400 runners and walkers who hit the streets on the historic west side of Carson City.

The race precedes the Nevada Day Parade celebrating Nevada’s entry into the Union.

Nevada Guide Dog Puppies in Training will serve as course marshals. Families and groups can participate in the walk, enjoy the race breakfast and the Nevada Day Parade that immediately follows the Classic. Race participants are invited to wear costumes.

This year’s Classic will be organized in partnership with the Carson City Guide Dog Club and Eyes for Tomorrow puppy raising club of Reno, and all net proceeds will be donated to Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) and to local puppy raising clubs.

Guide Dogs for the Blind is a nonprofit, contributor-supported organization (receiving no government funds) that provides blind and visually impaired individuals with professionally trained guide dogs to use as mobility assistants. It was founded in 1942 to serve returning World War II veterans who lost their sight during the war. The organization now serves blind and visually impaired persons throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Guide dog puppies are raised by volunteers who love, nurture and socialize them as the puppies grow and mature until they’re ready to enter into formal training at Guide Dogs for the Blind and become a guide dog.

“Many people ask how we can stand to give our puppies up after we raise them. I tell them that it is difficult,” said Kelsey Mammen, a longtime puppy raiser. “We get attached to our puppies and we love them, but the most genuine and sincere thank yous I have ever received have come from the men and women who received my puppies as guide dogs.”

This year’s event will include a puppy presentation of an eight-week-old guide dog puppy in training, Nevada, who will be raised in the Carson City Guide Dog Club.

The race starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29. To register, go to http://www.nevadadayclassic.org.