Mountain’s Edge to host 5K race

The parks, streets and sidewalks of Mountain's Edge will be filled with runners and walkers Sept. 15 when the 3,500-acre master-planned community plays host to the 17th annual 5K race and 1-mile walkathon benefiting Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada.

The 5K race will commence at 7:30 a.m. and the 1-mile walkathon will start at 7:45 a.m. Those interested in registering for the race can do so online at mountainsedge.com or candlelighterslv.org. Registration begins at 7 a.m. and there is a $25 preregistration fee for adults and $15 preregistration fee for children.

The minimum goal for each team is to recruit 10 members and raise $1,000 as a team. Late registrants still can participate in the race by registering at Exploration Park on race day at Mountain's Edge.

The 2007 race, now called Candlelighters 5K and One-Mile Race for Our Kids Because Kids Can't Fight Cancer Alone, will be the 17th annual event held by the organization and it's the third year Mountain's Edge has hosted the festivities, with the community serving as the official location for the fundraiser. The sponsors are Focus Property Group, the Ritter Charitable Trust and Findlay Toyota.

"Our goal for this year's event is to recruit more corporate teams to help raise money for such a worthy cause, and to generate awareness for Candlelighters and its mission to assist families of children with cancer," said John A. Ritter, chairman and chief executive officer of Focus Property Group, master planner of Mountain's Edge. "We're counting on residents of Mountain's Edge and our home builder partners to participate as well as corporations throughout the Las Vegas Valley to create teams and come out and show their support."

More than 1,200 families in Southern Nevada directly benefit from the services Candlelighters provides in the form of emotional, educational and financial assistance to alleviate the uncertainty felt by families facing childhood cancer. The 5K race and walkathon will help the organization raise funds to assist with these services.

Refreshments, awards, children activities, shirts, prizes and drawings are all part of the event. Those interested in finding out more about the event or donating to the charity can call the Candelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada at 737-1919.

Focus Property Group has set forth a plan to ensure that residents of the community have ample opportunity to help organizations such as Candlelighters, Ritter said.

Mountain's Edge will sponsor two 5K events per year, one benefiting Candlelighters and the other for the American Heart Association Oct. 13.

"It is especially rewarding to organize events in Mountain's Edge where our residents and others throughout the valley get the opportunity to help an organization that does so much for people in real need," he said.

This year's 5K race and 1-mile walkathon will be held at the community's 80-acre Exploration Park, which opened to the public in March. The park features open spaces, volleyball courts, picnic areas and an amphitheatre. The most unique feature in Exploration Park is a Western Theme Park, which features building facades and play structures inspired by the Old West, including web tee pee climbers, rocking horses tied to hitching posts and a mock archeological dig.

Exploration Park is the first of six parks planned for the master-planned community.

The community held National Night Out Aug. 7, an event designed to encourage residents to get to know their neighbors, and the event was coupled with a Movie in the Park, where attendees enjoyed the family friendly movie, "Yours, Mine and Ours." More than 1,000 people turned out for that event, Ritter said.

Looking ahead, Mountain's Edge will host a fall festival and an event celebrating the winter holiday season, he said.

The community's Desert Demonstration Garden will hold water-smart landscaping seminars in the backyard of the Home Search Café. The seminars cover landscaping with desert-adaptable materials. The next one is scheduled for Nov. 17.

The facility was built as a resource center for valley residents to learn about the various drought-tolerant plant materials that can be used to create water-smart landscaping.

When fully developed, Mountain's Edge is planned to feature four elementary schools, one of which is already open, two middle schools and a high school.

Builders with actively selling subdivisions are Amstar Homes, Avante Homes, Beazer Homes, D.R. Horton, Engle Homes, KB Home, Kimball Hill Homes, Lennar, Meritage Homes, Pardee Homes, Pulte Homes, R/S Development, Ryland Homes, Toll Brothers, Warmington Homes Nevada and Woodside Homes.

Other builders, including Astoria Homes, Phillips Homes and StoryBook Homes, are expected to begin sales in coming months. For more information, visit focuspropertygroup.com.

The Home Search Café is located at the community's entrance on Buffalo Drive and Blue Diamond Road. The Café is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. For more information, call 898-5777 or visit mountainsedge.com.