Kereiakes Park hosts 10th annual JackRabbit Jog 5K Run/Walk

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – For 10 years, a local 5K run and walk has been making a difference in the world of kidney disease.

The Jackrabbit Jog has been chipping away, slowly raising money for a deadly disease thousands have, but very few actually know about. PKD, or Polycystic Kidney Disease, is a genetic disease causing cysts to form in the kidney, leading them to deteriorate.

Ryan Dearbone, the race director for the Jackrabbit Jog, has a close tie to the disease that has taken three family members of his and says they are doing their part in the fight against the deadly disease.

“There’s over a million people worldwide that have PKD, about 700,000 here in the U.S. There is no cure for it, right now. Dialysis and kidney transplants are about the best you can do, but they’re working on drugs that slow the process. And hopefully by raising money and by raising awareness, will, will eventually get rid of this disease,” Dearbone said.

The PKD community, while small, is close and supportive of each other. The Jog has seen individuals from around the country participate, many with their own connections to PKD. For the man responsible behind the races, though, he says the journey has been one of remembrance and honor, giving back to family members who’ve been affected greatly by PKD.

“For me, it’s been a love letter to my mom. It’s been my grandmother who just passed away in December, not from PKD, but my grandmother, this made her feel so much better to know we were honoring my mom, honoring my grandfather, her husband, and her son that have passed away from PKD. So it’s been an honor for me, and it’s been, like, so therapeutic to meet other people. We’ve got a couple volunteers that have been affected by PKD that know somebody that have given a kidney. So it’s it’s been, it’s been more than I could have hoped for,” Dearbone said.

In total the races has raised about $25,ooo towards an effort to research, and cure for Polycystic Kidney Disease, with over 80 participants this year.

Dearbone says he never expected the race to grow into what it has been now, and says he will continue the jackrabbit jog in an effort to continue the fight against PKD.

The jog, which usually has a second race held in Hopkinsville in the Fall, will be taking the Fall off and will be bringing the Jackrabbit Jog back again in 2026.