Belt Sander Charity Race, a 'community-building' event, grinds on in Berks enclave
Jul. 15—The Belt Sander Charity Race is so ingrained in the Five Points community that the first question John and Patty Miravich fielded from many customers after buying their Old Friedensburg Road tavern a couple of years ago was about the event.
The question was about whether the business under new ownership would continue to host the event.
New Bertie's Inn near the Exeter Township village hosted the charity race, now in its 31st year, on Saturday for another consecutive year, so it's safe to say the tradition isn't about the end any time soon.
"It's a community-building event and people love coming to it and supporting the charity," Patty said prior to the start of races. "It's such a unique way of racing."
The Miraviches went all in, constructing a new track and acquiring new belt sanders.
For three decades, Bertie's was a cornerstone of a national bar and restaurant fundraising program that benefited the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Last year's event attracted dozens of racers and raised nearly $13,000 for charity.
With the discontinuation of the fundraising program, however, Bertie's selected a new beneficiary, the Homeless Youth Program at Mary's Shelter.
Mary's Shelter is a multifaceted comprehensive housing and social service agency that addresses pregnancy, parenting and youth homelessness through proactive preventative work, crisis intervention services and stabilization back into the community.
Proceeds are generated in several easy: $5 admission; T-shirt sponsorship sale shirt sales; team sponsorship and pledges; and contests.
Everything is donated, Patty said. Even the five musicians who took turns at the stage throughout the day performed for free.
Jay Matthews of Muhlenberg Township has been coming to the event for 15 years and has had a race team, sponsored by Morgan Brothers Tree Lawn, for the last 10.
"They put a lot of work into this," said Matthews, who was there at 8 a.m. — well ahead of the noon start of races — helping with set-up.
The races are fun to watch because, simply put, there's no way to look graceful riding a power tool designed for refinishing hardwood floors, not transporting adult humans.
Racers plop their keister on top of the 4 x 24 sanders attached to an electrical extension cord. With their bodies like see-saws, they grip the front and back of the machine and try to balance their weight to keep from falling off.
One of the participants, Emily Allebach of Team Morgan Brothers, races cars for sport at Maple Grove Raceway.
"This actually feels a lot less safe," she said during warm-up runs, adding that race cars and tracks are equipped with a lot of features to protect from bodily injury in the event of a crash.
There were no seat belts or harnesses to protect against the herky-jerky nature of the ride and the overuse of core muscles.
"I'm already hurting," she said.
