Race to Honor Fallen Eden Prairie Alum

Thanks to his Eden Prairie High School classmates, Major Randy Voas, a decorated U.S. Air Force combat pilot who was killed in action in Afghanistan on April 9, will be remembered with with a 5K road race in his name.

The Randy's Run 5K Family Fun Run/Walk, scheduled for July 24, will honor Voas' service and raise money for college scholarships in his name for deserving Eden Prairie High School students.

Registration for the 5K is open at http://www.randysrun.com/ and donations are also being collected on there. The race's USATF certified course starts at the Eden Prairie High School football stadium and travels around near-by Round Lake, finishing back at the school.

Contributions collected from the race will be given to The Foundation for Eden Prairie Schools, who will distribute the funds into a college scholarship in Voas' name at Eden Prairie High School.

"The Foundation for Eden Prairie Schools is pleased and flattered that the Eden Prairie Class of 1985 has chosen FEPS as the recipient of monies raised from Randy's Run," FEPS board president Jeff Parker said. "We can't imagine a more meaningful and fitting way to start than by helping to honor the memory of Randy Voas."

The scholarship in Voas' name is designed to inspire young people to work toward a healthy lifestyle of fitness, academics, service and family, the qualities of which Voas is most remembered, race officials said.

In high school Voas was a track and cross country athlete, a member of the high school band, a member of the National Honor Society and worked for the Eden Prairie Parks Board and Community Center as a lifeguard and ice rink attendant.

Voas graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1989 with a major in biology and joined the Army as a chief warrant officer and flew AH-64 Apaches helicopters, transitioning to the Air Force to fly special operations MH-53 Pave Lows and ultimately the CV-22 Osprey, a tilt-wing airplane, according to friends and family.

Ten days into his Afghanistan deployment, Voas and two crew members were killed when the Osprey they were flying crashed near Kandahar.

A special sunset memorial service will take place before Randy's Run, on Friday night, July 23 at the Eden Prairie Veterans Memorial.