ZELIENOPLE — Borough council on Monday approved two road races for this fall.

New this year will be the Malaria Miles 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run on Sept. 20.

The event is being organized by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America based in Pittsburgh.

The Rev. Dennis Orsen told council Monday that the Evangelical church’s national campaign has raised $12 million and has a goal of $15 million by 2015.

The idea for the running event originally came from 9-year-old Rachel Faulkner, daughter of The Rev. Sara Lee-Faulkner, assistant to the bishop. She was inspired after hearing a sermon about the successes of the malaria campaign, Orsen said.

“I would like to note that when this campaign began someone was dying from malaria every 30 seconds, now somebody is dying from malaria every 60 seconds, so the campaign is making a difference,” he said.

The event will start at 8:30 a.m. at the Passavant Retirement Community and the route for the 5k sticks to all borough roads.

Participants can sign up the day of the event or register online by visiting https://register.chronotrack.com/reg/form?eventID=9637.

About half of the route will be on the Passavant campus, which was chosen because it is affiliated with the Lutheran Church, Orsen said.

The Great Pumpkin Race, an annual event by Saint Gregory Catholic School’s parent teacher association, will be on Oct. 26. Registration will be at 3 p.m. at the school on West Beaver Street.

The event includes a 5k race and a 1-mile fun run/walk. All proceeds will support programs at the school.