Comet Chase 5k
Annually on Yankee Doodle Day
The Comet Chase 5K Run/Walk (formerly the Josh Spalsbury Memorial Run) will take place on Saturday June 22, 2024. All proceeds benefit the Grand Ledge Education Foundation (GLEF).
New 2024 Starting Location! The Grand Ledge High School Track and Field Facility
2023 Josh Spalsbury Memorial Comet Chase Photos
2022 Josh Spalsbury Memorial Comet Chase Photos
About Joshua Ryan Spalsbury (1980-2007)
Joshua was a four-year participant in three sports (cross country, basketball, and track & field) at Grand Ledge High School. He was one of only seven athletes in his senior class (1998) to have participated in three sports throughout high school. He did so while gaining membership in the National Honor Society and earning a 3.8+ GPA. He was awarded ten varsity letters and earned academic all-state status as a track and field athlete in the 3200m relay. He was named to the all-area team in the same event and was a four-time all-CAC track and cross country athlete.
After graduation from GLHS, Josh matriculated to his father’s alma mater, Hope College in Holland, MI. There, he won two varsity letters in both cross country and track and field, and earned Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) all-academic status both years while serving as Hope College’s student representative to the MIAA. He also served as a counselor at the school’s crisis intervention center and was a member of the school’s improvisational comedy troop called Vanderprov.
In 2000 he transferred to De Paul University where he successfully completed his degree in Communications, with an emphasis on video production, in 2002. Josh’s photography and poetry were both published during his time at DePaul. Josh held a number of jobs in the intervening years and was thoroughly enjoying his latest adventure working in Yellowstone National Park at the time of his untimely death in a car accident in the summer of 2007.
In 2008, the annual 5K Comet Chase that was established by GLEF in 2004 was officially named the “Josh Spalsbury Memorial 5K Comet Chase” to honor the memory and accomplishments of a dedicated student and athlete.
GLEF is grateful to the Spalsbury family for continuing the “Josh Spalsbury Memorial 5k Comet Chase” until 2023, when a record-breaking 218 participants ran in memory of Josh. Though the “Josh Spalsbury Memorial 5k Comet Chase” is now retired, GLEF is continuing to run the Comet Chase 5K.