Color Run race includes tribute to Cloquet man killed in crash

Five years ago, family and friends of Cole Drechsler came together at the Cloquet Rotary’s Color Run to walk for Cole, a bright and vibrant young man who had passed away three days before.

The 2013 Cloquet High School grad died as the result of injuries from a crash with an extremely drunk driver, Philip Bergerson, on July 11, 2015, on the Highway 61 Expressway between Two Harbors and Duluth. Cole died four days later while being treated for his critical injuries. The drunk driver was killed on impact.

That weekend Cole’s family — his two triplet brothers, Garrett and Trace, and parents, Dawn and Paul Drechsler — were joined by friends and extended family at the Cloquet Color Run.

“He was going to run that race,” said Dawn. “So we walked it for him.”

It is an appropriate venue for their son, she said, who was training for Grandma’s Marathon, despite facing multiple physical challenges throughout his life.

“He provided lots of color,” she said. “Whichever event he was at, you knew if Cole was there. He had the best smile.”

That year Dawn figures that Cole’s friends and family made up close to half the race participants. Since then they have continued to gather at the Pine Valley race each year in memory of Cole, who would have loved the experience of running through the clouds of brightly colored powder thrown by volunteers that make the race unique.

For the first time this weekend, Cole’s family and the Cloquet Rotary are working hand-in-hand on the race. This year’s pop-art-style poster features a colorized image of Cole, with “live COLErfully 2019” in one corner.

It’s not too late to register for the race, which starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at Pine Valley. It may be too late to snag one of the T-shirts, which also feature the “live COLErfully image.” Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. Runners and walkers are encouraged to wear clothes they want to be drenched with new colors.

Cole’s parents say the race is very special to them.

“Our friends and family get together at the race and afterwards we have a barbecue at our house,” she said. “It’s a nice time for us to get together, honor Cole and create some new memories.”

His parents will hold a silent auction, with proceeds this year going toward a Cloquet Ed Foundation scholarship in his memory. Previous donations have funded a study area at the College of St. Scholastica, where Cole was studying to be a physician’s assistant.

If they could impress one thing upon people, his parents said it would be simply: Don’t drink and drive. Period.

“I think people don’t realize the impact it can have. Not only on one’s own family but all the lives that one person impacted by his foolish mistake,” Dawn said. “Cole was innocent. But he would be pissed that someone would be that irresponsible. He liked to party, too. But they always picked a designated driver.”