On Saturday, April 27^th, the fifth running of the Emerald Coast Electrathon Classic 120 race event sponsored by the Gulf Power Engineering Society will be held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The “120� on the end is not for laps or miles but minutes. In fact there will be two - 60 minute races held on Saturday for electric race vehicles built by high school, college students and an open class that run off of 72 pounds of sealed lead acid batteries. The Electrathon race event is not about speed but endurance. How far can you go in 60 minutes without running out of energy. This race is sanctioned by Electrathon America and so far 10 teams with 13 cars and 88 team members have registered to compete. The team traveling the greatest distance is from California. Yes, the west coast of the United States is being represented this year by a team from Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California and bringing a team of 11 members. The teacher, Ed Richter attended this event in 2012 and said he would be back with a team. There is also a team coming for the second time from San Antonio, Texas bringing two cars and 15 team members to Pensacola!

Schools in the Pensacola Area competing are Pensacola High School, Milton High School,Pensacola State College and one Open class team. Other teams are Tampa Bay Tech High School and Hillsborough Community College both from the Tampa Bay area. TwoOpen teams are coming from as far south as Miami. This is also aFloridaSkills USAcertified eventand is part of the FloridaSkillsUSA State Competition being help in Pensacola the next week.

The breakdown is as follows:

# in # # of ClassesClassesof Cars Members Open 3 3 18 High School 5 8 54 College2 2 16 Totals 10 13 88

The race event sponsors are Gulf Power Engineering Society, Five Flags Speedway, Pensacola State College, Skills USA of Florida and ASHRAE – Northwest Florida Chapter andElectrathon ofTampa Bay.

The first race starts at 10:30 AM and the second race at 1:30 PM and they are competing for 1^st,2^nd and 3^rd places for each class and the overall winner with the most number of laps. The trackopensto the public at 10 AM and the infield will be open during the break between races for the public to view. However, allspectators must exit theinfieldprior to thebeginning of the second race. Go towww.emeraldcoastelectrathon.comfor more detailed information on the Electrathon race, links,videos, sponsors and theupcomingday’s schedule.

TheElectrathonEducationalProgramhasspurred student interestinScience, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)andhasproven to increaseacademicprogress in all STEMandall schoolrelated subjects. This is only one of manyeventsGulf Power employees help organize and run acrossnorthwest Florida to improvethe level of learningexperiencesbygettingstudentsinvolved in STEM programs andincreasingtheireducational advantagesin the searchfor knowledge,