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Get your running shoes ready. The Fourth Annual Rome Boulevard Road Race is Sunday, Oct. 5, at 9:45 a.m.

Sponsored by Al Cerrone and Attleboro teachers, the race includes a 5-mile run, a 2-mile run, a 5-mile walk, and a 2-mile walk. The races start and end at Attleboro High School and registration begins at 8 a.m., with $20 entry fees after Sept. 27, $15 before Sept. 27, and $12 for students.

Previously sponsored by RoJack's and known as the RoJack's Race, it attracted 10,000 runners for 14 years. Four years ago, Attleboro teachers took over the event after the supermarket went out of business and renamed it after the street on which it begins.

"That year, the Attleboro teachers met and were thinking of something to do for the community, when I just mentioned (the road race idea) in casual conversation. The experiment was already done and the course was already laid out for us," said Attleboro High teacher and road race leader Jim Hawkins.

Proceeds from the race are donated to Attleboro schools to help support sport user fees for families in need of a little financial help. There are new prizes this year, which include a pizza party night at Briggs Corner Pizzeria in Attleboro for 35 people. If any prizes are won by Attleboro teachers or students, the Attleboro police running team, Attleboro firefighters, Wampanoag Road Runners, Attleboro Bluefish Swim Club, Attleboro YMCA Jaguars or a group of all Attleboro residents, then an additional $500 will be donated to the Rebeckha Lynn Whitefield Scholarship Fund, which gives money to Attleboro and a college scholarship in memory of Whitefield. She died last May in a car accident.

"Attleboro gets criticized a lot, but there's a lot of community spirit in this town (The fact that) we're donating to Becky's scholarship should also attract more kids and adults," Hawkins added.

Most road races consist only of adults, with maybe one or two teens, but the Rome Boulevard Race is different because tons of students from AHS and other local schools show up to participate and volunteer, demonstrating Attleboro's great community atmosphere.

This year, the Attleboro Police Department's running team and the Attleboro Firefighters' team will have T-shirts that read, "It's your only chance to chase us." The office staff of major sponsor Al Cerrone will be wearing pink "Cerrone Girls" T-shirts.

All sponsors are local and include Al Cerrone Chevrolet-Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac-GMC, Attleboro Education Association, Bristol County Savings Bank, Sodexho, Aramark, DB Sports, Drivers Choice Driving School, The Sun Chronicle, Wampanoag Road Runners, Stop & Shop Pleasant Street, School to Career Partnership, Attleboro Bluefish Swim Club, Houghton Physical Therapy & Sports Conditioning, HoneyDew Donuts Norton, Attleboro Police Association Running Team, Professional Firefighters of Attleboro Local 848, Pups Unlimited, Bliss Brothers Dairy, Briggs Corner Pizzeria, Mutter Motors, Sinclair Manufacturing, Attleboro Public School Administrators Alliance, Morins Diner, Dunlap Crane and Rigging, Footworks, WB Construction Company, Chiropractic Care, and Ameriprise. Deep thanks are extended to all the sponsors for their hearty donations.

For more information about the Rome Boulevard Road Race, visit http://attleboro.massteacher.org or contact Hawkins at romeboulevard@verizon.net or 508-226-1436.