_ The 2023 NIDS Oral Cancer Awareness 5K Run/2K Walk:

Registration: pre-register online. 

Race day check-in & packet pick up starts at 7:00 am.   SAME DAY SIGN UPS BEGIN 7:30AM
Race start: 9:00 am runners / 9:10 am walkers
Awards: Award medals, shirt from the Oral Cancer Foundation and $100 gift card to Gamba Ristorante in Merrillville for top male and female finishers overall.  Award medals for top male and female finishers in each age category.
Proceeds: Benefits Oral Cancer Awareness
Entry Cost: Early Registration -  $20 entry fee. Late registration from September 15th to September 22nd - $25 entry fee.

Shirt cost is $14 - Shirt sizes and availability not guaranteed after September 15th

Race will be held rain, snow, or shine. 

This is a closed course with paved and gravel trails. 

We will have a DJ, prizes, medals and sponsor giveaways in addition to a cool race shirt.

RESULTS: 5K race will be timed using on-the-bib disposable chip timing technology.
Full results will be posted at https://www.temporuntiming.com

The 2K walk is non-competitive and will not be timed. 

Proceeds of this race benefit oral cancer awareness.  

Approximately 54,000 people in the US will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer in 2022. While some think this is a rare cancer, mouth cancers will be newly diagnosed in about 145 new individuals each day in the US alone, and a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day. When found at early stages of development, oral cancers can have an 80 to 90% survival rate. Late stage diagnosis is not occurring because most of these cancers are hard to discover, (though some like HPV origin disease have unique discovery issues), it is because of a lack of public awareness coupled with the lack of a national program for opportunistic screenings which would yield early discovery by medical and dental professionals. 

It is one of the Northwest Indiana Dental Society's goals to increase public awareness of oral cancer symptoms and risk factors, to increase early detection.