The Butler Road Race is coming to an end.

Say it ain’t so.

It shouldn’t be so.

Much credit should be given to BRR president Mike Franko, race director Mike Blessel and the rest of the event’s board of directors for a job well done.

For decades now, the majority of that board has been doing the leg work necessary to make the Butler Road Race the classic event it became through the years.

Never mind the scholarship money the BRR has produced for area cross country student-athletes. When the June 24 race is complete, the Butler Road Race will have dished out more than $425,000 in scholarship money to more than 800 high school seniors.

There have been nearly 28,000 runners finish this race in front of the Butler County Courthouse since 1976.

And this is going to end? After 42 years?

The Butler Road Race is the longest continuous race of its kind in all of Western Pennsylvania. It is an annually circled date on the calendar for all runners in the community.

When Nick Edinger of Mars won this race last year, he was nearly in tears. He knew the magnitude of that victory, the local prestige.

This is one of those events that brings the community together, right on Main Street, right through the heart of Butler.

It shouldn’t go away.

No one has any right to expect Franko, Blessel, 42-year board member Rick Davanzati, Jr., or any of the other officers to continue carrying the torch here. They’ve done their service. They’re getting involved in other things. Their time is no longer there to commit.

But they want to pass that torch, maybe to a younger group of runners or coaches who can pick up the ball and run with it.

But there were no takers, not enough new blood in the organization to sustain things.

No doubt, organizing this event is no small task. There’s accumulating volunteers, securing the venues, arranging scoring, t-shirts, the registration process, etc. The scholarship portion is separate from all of that.

Even if the scholarship portion of this event went away — sad as that may be — and proceeds from the BRR would benefit some other entity, the race would still be there.

This event belongs to the running community of Butler County.

The running community should save it.

That may not happen. Maybe the work is too much. Maybe this board is a one-of-its-kind group of people so passionate about this event that it carried it forward for 42 years through its own dedication and diligence.

Again, kudos to those people.

If indeed the Butler Road Race will become history after June 24, we bid it a fond farewell.

And a sad one.

It should live on.