NEW SALEM, Mass. – Victoria Rose Gaignard’s presence was strong at The Village Ultra. Her story was heard by runners and walkers as they registered and by passersby on foot and bike who stopped to inquire about the event. Her picture was placed prominently at race headquarters, as well as at each of the four bead stations along the course, reminding participants why they were there.
Victoria’s dream was being fulfilled with every single step taken during the event on Sept. 2-3 on the New Salem Town Common where runners and walkers had 24 hours to complete as many miles as they wanted on a course consisting of four separate, color-coded loops.
To hear her grandmother tell it, Victoria’s dream was both simple and powerful.
“Victoria used to always ask me if I would pay for friends to dance that couldn’t afford to,” said Priscilla Gaignard, Victoria’s grandmother and a volunteer at the Village Ultra. “I couldn’t afford to anymore, so when she passed I decided that that would be a good way to honor her.”
Victoria was 8 years old when she and another little girl died in a house fire on March 5, 2016. The tragedy rocked the town of Orange and neighboring communities including New Salem. Among the places where Victoria’s death was felt the hardest was The Dance Studio of Orange where Victoria pursued one of her passions while taking lessons from studio owner Ingrid Schatz.
“It devastated the community,” recalled Carla Halpern, a dance parent and New Salem resident who is also the Race Director of the Village Ultra. “Ingrid not only owns the studio but teaches a lot of classes, so this was personally devastating to her as well. She feels like all of the dance children are family. The community came together to mourn these girls in a very compassionate way with a community gathering and hot chocolate. The kids got stuffed animals and there were little paper lanterns in the park, and there were wish boxes where you could write your thoughts and wishes to the little girls. But it leaves a wrench in the community.”
Priscilla Gaignard’s heart was broken, but she responded to the tragedy with love.
“Victoria died in March, and at the recital that year her grandmother gave little necklaces to each of the children in Victoria’s dance classes,” Halpern said. “She really started her healing by being generous.”
That was just the beginning of her generosity. As a way to honor her granddaughter, Priscilla and a few others in the dance community started the Victoria Rose Scholarship Fund.
“My daughter is a class younger than Victoria and my son is a class older, so they both knew her through dance, and I’ve known Priscilla forever,” said Kristina Hartjens, Orange resident, dance parent, and president of the Victoria Rose Scholarship Fund. “So a bunch of parents at the dance studio and Priscilla and Ingrid … we got together and made it happen.”
For seven years the scholarship fund has raised money through community events, craft sales, and special events. The response has been huge. The number of scholarships offered has grown significantly in the seven years the scholarship fund has existed. Last year six dancers received $500 scholarships which cover an entire dance season. Additionally, the fund raised enough money that it gave its first $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior dancer to help her pursue her college education at Boston University.
“The longer we’ve been around, the more the town really supports us and we can rally and we can get money around stuff because the community sees the benefits that are happening,” Hartjens said.
The Victoria Rose Scholarship Fund received another major boost thanks to the Village Ultra. Halpern started the event in 2017 as a way to raise money to support community organizations, individuals in need, or various causes. As she thought about which organization the seventh edition of the event should benefit this year, a clear answer came to mind.
“This scholarship has helped a lot of kids access dance lessons and be able to participate in recitals,” Halpern said. “I was seeing all the good things that the Victoria Rose Scholarship does. I thought this is a real community group and something that will really, positively affect our very local community and this dance family that my child and family have been such a big part of, too.”
Halpern reached out to Schatz to inquire about using the Village Ultra to raise funds for the Victoria Rose Scholarship Fund. Schatz liked the idea and put Halpern in touch with Hartjens. From there, the pieces quickly fell into place with Hartjens handling promotion of the event and Halpern responsible for the race director duties.
The Village Ultra is always low key and no frills to minimize expenses and maximize impact for the beneficiary organization. That was the case once again this year. As is tradition at the Village Ultra, runners once again created their own course by running any of four color-coded loops, a .25-mile loop around the Town Common, a .60-mile loop that passes through a field, woods and the cemetery, a 2.2-mile out-and-back past an apple orchard, and a 2.4-mile out-and-back down and back up a long, steep hill. Runners collected beads at the midpoint of each loop and placed them on a shoestring to track their distance. This year, each bead station included a photo of Victoria in one of her dance outfits. Runners also collected a special violet bead at the end of their run or walk in remembrance of Victoria.
By design, the Village Ultra is not a competitive event. Its primary purpose is fundraising to support the particular year’s cause. Still, the 21 runners and walkers who took part all had their own goals or motivations for piling up the miles whether they participated for an hour, the full 24-hour duration, or somewhere in between. Included among those 21 were eight who surpassed the marathon distance for ultra mileage.
Fresh off of his ultra debut two weeks earlier at the TARC Summer Classic when he won the 50K race, Harold Mir of Peabody, Mass., turned in his second ultra and ran through the night for the first time on his way to 52 miles. Joining Mir among the mileage leaders were Halpern and Kym Lewis. Halpern continues to rebuild her fitness since donating a kidney a year ago, and she took another big step in that journey with a 45-mile performance. Lewis, of Athol, Mass., also hit a major milestone by setting a distance personal record of 40 miles.
Other ultra finishes were recorded by Benn Griffin, Su Hoyle, Chris Wristen, Nancy Mead, and Rachel Roy. Griffin, of Pittsfield, Mass., is a prolific race director for the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service. As he nears the end of a busy summer of directing events, he made his annual trip to the Village Ultra and logged 34.11 miles. Hoyle, of Shutesbury, Mass., is another Village Ultra regular who earned her first ultramarathon finish at last year’s Village Ultra. This year she completed her second, a 50K, with 31.15 miles. Wristen, of Norwood, Mass., completed 28.5 miles in what served as a training day for the Ghost Train Trail Race 30-hour in mid-October. Mead, a veteran ultrarunner from Wendell, Mass., completed 27.3 miles in a solid training day for the 2024 New York City Marathon. Roy, of Fall River, Mass., is a triathlete who has been working her way back from an ankle injury, and she set a personal best for distance with 27.0 miles.
Sally Stuffin, of Wendell, Mass., will join Mead at the New York City Marathon, and she took a big step in her preparation for it by running a marathon at the Village Ultra, finishing with 26.2 miles.
Village Ultra regulars Sarah Richardson – the owner/director of Rise and Shine Running – and her husband Mike Richardson, both of Berlin, Vt., ran together and completed 20.5 miles. Lee Anne Zarger was the lone virtual runner, completing 20.1 miles near her home in New Milford, Conn.
Village Ultra regular Sarah Vular of Wendell, Mass., completed 12.0 miles; Tamara Cardona and Eric Marek of Westhampton, Mass., ran together and completed 11.0 miles; Hartjens, of Orange, Mass., completed 6.55 miles; Schatz and her husband Bryan Long, both of Orange, Mass., completed 6.2 miles; Don Maynard Memorial 5-Mile race directors Cathy Coutu of Turners Falls, Mass., and Chuck Adams of Greenfield, Mass., made another trip to the Village Ultra and logged 3.1 miles; and dance parent Todd Soucy of Orange, Mass., logged 2.4 miles.
Of all the numbers amassed at this year’s Village Ultra, the one that mattered most had nothing to do with mileage. As of Sunday, Sept. 10, the event had raised $1,730 with more money still coming in. That’s enough to fund more than three dance scholarships, a big step in fulfilling Victoria’s dream – as well as the dreams of other young dancers. For those who participated at the Village Ultra, it made every step worthwhile.
“Ingrid has an expression on the walls of the studio that I think is apt,” Halpern said. “It says ‘Strengthen the Body, Nurture the Soul.’”
Helpful Resources:
Learn more about the Victoria Rose Scholarship Fund
MassUltra 