Plans are underway in Lowell, Massachusetts for the seventh annual Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race, a 3.1-mile run through the city where the eponymous Beat writer was born and eventually buried. Proceeds from the event, scheduled for Sunday, September 27, will fund the Jack Kerouac Scholarship, awarded each year to a graduate of Lowell High School, the author’s alma mater.
Kerouac’s writing, much of which is set in Lowell, “exemplifies the gentle grit and tone” of the famous mill town, race organizers state on their Web site. A member of his high school track team, Kerouac worked briefly as a sports reporter for the Lowell Sun before publishing his first novel.
The recipient of the Jack Kerouac Scholarship can also look forward to an additional fourteen thousand dollars in tuition assistance should he or she choose to study journalism, creative writing, or a related field at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. The school has partnered with the Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race since 2008.
Registration, which costs twenty dollars in advance or twenty-five dollars on the day of the race, is available through the official Web site.
