Heart of a Lion 5K Run/Walk *All proceeds benefit the Jackson Area 19 SPECIAL OLYMPICS*
About this race
Mark your calendars for the 12th Annual Special Olympics Michigan Area 19 (Jackson County) Heart of a Lion chip timed 5K Run/Walk at the beautiful Ella Sharp Park located at 2800 Fourth St. Jackson, MI 49203.
The race will be held on Sunday, August 23rd at 9 a.m. with a SOMI athlete/Kids Fun Run to follow.
Pricing: $30 until 8/6 (shirt guaranteed), $35 from 8/7 to 8/22 (shirts available as supplies last), $40 race day (no shirt guaranteed)
T-Shirts guaranteed to those who register by August 6th, supplies available as they last after that date.
Overall Awards will be given to the top male and female finishers of Open (all ages), and Masters (40+), in the 5k Run, and 5k Walk.
Age Groups Awards to the top 3 places in each age group:
5k Run age groups: 0-12, 13-14, 15-17, 18-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69. 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85+
5k Walk age groups: 0-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+
Packet pick up will be on Saturday, August 22nd from 3-5 p.m. at the SOMI office located at 210 East McDevitt Jackson, MI 49203. Race day packet pickup will start at 7:00 am at the race location, Ella Sharp Park. Race day registration is available until 8:45 a.m.
Proceeds from this race will benefit the Jackson Area 19 Special Olympics and will be used to provide year round sports training and athletic competition for persons with intellectual disabilities. All proceeds stay in Jackson, County.
Results will be available live during the event and posted online at this website.
Please note there are no dogs permitted at this event. Service dogs excluded. Please see the full policy under Race Info. This is for the safety of both our participants and your dogs. Thank you.
The race will be professionally timed by the Michigan Running Foundation. The Heart of a Lion is proud to be part of the ORS Race Series.
Pick your distance
Running
5k Run
Walking
5k Walk
Please sign up for this event if you intend to walk the ENTIRE 3.1 miles. If at any point you plan on running you must register for the 5k run.
Typical race-day weather
Based on 12 years of Open-Meteo archive data for this event's race dates in Jackson, plus the 3 days either side.
The sun rises at 6:53 AM and sets at 8:26 PM local time (EDT) in Jackson on August 23, 2026 — 13h 32m of daylight.
Course
No course map published yet.
The organizer hasn't released a route for this event, and we don't publish guesses. If you're the organizer, send us a GPX file and we'll draw the profile.
Reviews
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2026 results — Heart of a Lion 5K Run/Walk *All proceeds benefit the Jackson Area 19 SPECIAL OLYMPICS*
183 finishers across 2 distances · leading places in the 5k Run
| Place | Name | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah Blondke | 17:57 | 5:48 /mi |
| 2 | David McComb | 18:08 | 5:51 /mi |
| 3 | Steve Johanssen | 18:39 | 6:01 /mi |
| 4 | Josh Conklin | 18:49 | 6:04 /mi |
| 5 | Aidan Bradley | 19:05 | 6:09 /mi |
Every finisher is on the results page, filterable by distance, gender and age group.
All results by year
Other races near Jackson
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JACKSON TURKEY TROT (Michigan)
Northwest Athletic Booosters 5K Run/Walk
🏃 Plan Your Next Race in Jackson
Find upcoming events by distance:
- Jackson 5K Races 12 races
- 10K Run Events in Jackson 2 races
- Jackson Running Calendar 2026 14 races
Where this page comes from. Race details were last updated on . We re-check listings regularly and again in the week before race day.
- Entries, prices, waves and inclusions — the event's official registration page
- Temperature and humidity — Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)
- Elevation and terrain relief — Copernicus DEM GLO-90, ESA (CC BY 4.0)
- Comparisons and counts — Race Discovery calendar, 17 Jackson events
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