James Foley Freedom Run 5K gets fresh legs with Community Center venue

Thousands of runners are expected to compete in this year's run. This photo is from the 2017 race. (Rochester Voice file photo)

ROCHESTER - The 4^th Annual James W. Foley Freedom Run and Walk 5K will be held on Oct. 20 with a start and finish at the Rochester Community Center on Wakefield Street.

The 5K walk/run is held in the memory of war correspondent James Foley, who was slain by ISIS terrorists in Syria while covering the country's civil war.

Captured by ISIS on Aug. 19, 2014, he was publicly beheaded on Nov. 22, 2012, with a videotape of the horror widely disseminated on the Internet shortly thereafter.

The annual run and walk is to memorialize Foley's contribution to journalism and his humanity for helping to expose and report on the Civil War in Syria that has claimed so many lives.

The James W. Foley Freedom Run was held at the Rochester Fairgrounds for the first three years before moving this year to the Community Center.

Run organizers this year promise a fast, flat, chip-timed 5K through the streets of Rochester.

Funds collected from the event go directly to the James Foley Foundation, which advocates for the safe return of all Americans detained abroad, to protect independent conflict journalists and to educate regarding these threats to our freedom.

To sign up for the 5K or make a pledge go to www.foleyrun.org.