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September run will establish the Brittany Szwedko scholarship
By Denise Dick
AUSTINTOWN
A memorial event for Brittany Szwedko combines two of her greatest loves: dogs and running.
Legacy Dog Rescue, an animal rescue that works in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties, plans the Brittany Szwedko Memorial 5K Run and Dog Walk on Sept. 17 at Austintown Township Park, Kirk Road. Proceeds will go to a scholarship that’s being established in Brittany’s name.
Brittany, 27, of Cortland, was running along rural Trumbull County road last February when she was struck by a drunken driver. She died at the hospital.
Her family asked in Brittany’s obituary that donations be made to Legacy. Brittany was a dog lover. She had two rescues: Ted, a Border Collie mix, and Penny, a Shetland Sheepdog mix.
“They were her kids,” said Mary Kay Szwedko, Brittany’s mother.
Neither came from Legacy, but her mother said Brittany followed the organization on Facebook.
Brittany was training for her second marathon, scheduled for May in Pittsburgh, when she was killed.
The case against the driver is pending.
Legacy seeks sponsorships and donations for the run. For a $1,000 sponsorship, dubbed mastiff, an organization will get its logo on the back of the T-shirt given to runners. Smaller logos on the shirt will go to donors of $750 and $500, boxer and beagle, respectively. For $100, a pug, an organization will get a line on the back of the shirt. Sponsorship and runner registration forms are available on Legacy’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/LegacyDogRescue/ and at http://www.allsportsraces.com/brittany-szwedko-memorial-5k-run-and-dog-walk.html.
The race entry fee is $30, and leashed dogs are welcome. If a leisurely stroll with Rover is more your speed, registration is $20 for the dog walk.
The event also will feature a basket raffle, 50-50 prizes and a concession stand.
The run starts at 8 a.m. with the dog walk beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Blase Brush of Legacy said the organization wanted to memorialize Brittany.
“We wanted to do this in memory of a young lady who devoted a large part of her life to adopting and caring for rescue dogs,” he said.
Mary Kay Szwedko said rescuing dogs was important to her late daughter.
“She was very much against breeders and all for rescuing the ones that needed it,” she said.
Legacy approached Mary Kay Szwedko about the memorial event. She met Brush for the first time at Brittany’s funeral.
The family got its first dog in 2003, and Brittany was a dog lover from then on.
She started running in 2011, prompted by two co-workers at the Warren Trumbull County Public Library. She took it seriously, her mother said.
“This was how dedicated she was: she got up at 4 to run,” Mary Kay Szwedko said. “She’d come back and talk the dogs for a walk. Then she would take a shower and get ready and go to work.”
That was her schedule Monday through Friday.
Brittany, accompanied by her younger sister, Jayna, even trained during a family vacation to Cancun. They got up early ran 10 miles on the treadmill.
Mary Kay describes her late daughter as a beautiful person who lit up a room.
The dogs have adjusted and remain with Brittany’s family.
“I believe she visited them and told them she wasn’t going to be coming back,” her mother said.