Run to remember Kylie and Kyle set for Saturday

Time is nearing for the sixth annual Run2Believe Memorial 5K and already more than 400 participants have registered.

Several hundred more may be expected when the race begins Saturday morning.

The Run2Believe 5K Run/Walk celebrates the lives of Kylie Jobe and Kyle Thornburg who were returning to Wichita from a Colorado ski trip and killed in an accident on March 23, 2011.

Jobe and Thornburg were both graduates of Maize High School and high school sweethearts.

She was 20. He was 22.

The vehicle they were riding in was struck by a 27-year-old man who had entered the interstate going the wrong direction and hit them head on. The man was also killed and later found to have a blood alcohol level of .23 – nearly three times the legal limit.

In its sixth year, the memorial 5K has raised more than $60,000. Proceeds go toward supporting alcohol awareness programs and After Prom activities in area high school.

Some of the funds also go toward an endowment in the name of Kyle Thornburg which provides two scholarships annually to Maize area students and to the Oklahoma State University Foundation for an endowment in Kylie Brooke Jobe’s name and an annual scholarship to an Oklahoma State sophomore Gamma Phi Beta.

“We hope to encourage high school and college students and quite frankly, people of all ages to make responsible decisions – and remind them that their choices have consequences that affect more people than just themselves,” said Robin Thornburg, mother of Kyle Thornburg, in a prepared news release of the upcoming event.

The events on Saturday begin at 7:30 a.m. with registration and packet pickup in the Commons Area at Maize High School. A pancake breakfast by the Maize Lions Club in the Commons area also begins at 7:30 and runs through 11 a.m.

At 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, there will be a moment of silence and prayer. The race begins at 9 a.m.

Awards will be given at 10:15 a.m. to the top three places in 12 age groups.

“While we love to celebrate the lives of Kylie and Kyle, we feel it is important to continue to send this message to the Wichita community especially as spring break, prom season and graduations approach,” Barby Jobe, mother of Kylie Jobe said in the press release.

She told the Eagle that it encourages her to see each ear’s turnout for the memorial run and walk.

“I am amazed and really blessed at having the community lift us up when they come,” Barby Jobe said. “So many are return runners – and have done it for the past six years. Many are new. But a large majority either knew Kylie and Kyle or knew of them. While both were in college, they still had a lot of friends here. they both played sports and knew people across the schools.

“But while it is a blessing and honor to be able to remember them, our hope is to call people’s attention to not drinking and driving. If we can encourage one person to think they get in a car before they drive or get in a car when they know someone has been drinking … We have to keep saying, ‘Don’t drink and drive’.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 8:55 AM with the headline "Run to remember Kylie and Kyle set for Saturday."