Stephen Grubbs, president & CEO of Covenant Health (left), and John Jurczyk, president of St. Joseph Hospital, are flanked by two inflatable dinosaurs during the Ribbon Run 5K at Mine Falls Park on Sept. 15. Courtesy photo/St. Joseph Hospital

NASHUA – In a record-breaking year, St. Joseph Hospital raised $122,337 during its fourth annual Ribbon Run 5K on Sept. 15 at Mine Falls Park.

Brian Winslow, executive director of philanthropy, said the money will be used to purchase diagnostic equipment for the hospital’s Cancer Center. The funds will also be used for programming for cancer survivors.

Winslow said this year’s race featured 512 participants and 28 teams.

“It’s one of our biggest events, you cannot beat Mine Falls Park in September,” he said.

Winslow said the race, formerly known as Commit To Get Fit, is modeled after a similar event at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. He said the name was changed this year to the Ribbon Run to reflect that the money raised is used exclusively for cancer patients.

“It’s morphed into a community event,” said Winslow.

Michelle Foss of the Save Second Base team had the highest individual fundraising total with $870. The largest community team was Plus Pride with 36 members and the largest hospital team was Mission Impossible with 20 members.

After finishing second in last year’s race, Eric Chapdelaine of Cambridge, Mass., returned to take first place this year with a time of 17:53.

Stephen Logan led the way for the Nashua runners, finishing in fourth place overall with a time of 19 minutes.

Dr. Sarah Stadler, a physical therapist at St. Joe’s, said this was her first time participating in the race.

Stadler said the run was filled with “great energy” and she enjoyed the hill at the two-and-a-half-mile mark, which proved to be slightly challenging.

Nicholas Sylla of Nashua also took part in the race for the first time.

“It makes you feel great doing something for people in need,” he said, adding that he could not have asked for better conditions. “Everything was smooth, the whole trail was perfect.”

Also participating for the first time was Ian Wallis, who made the trip to Nashua from Louisiana. He said his sister is employed at St. Joe’s and that he still has family living in the area.

“Compared to Louisiana, it’s 15 degrees cooler up here,” said Wallis, adding that he enjoyed the downhill sections of the course.