New London — For the past quarter century the Lawrence + Memorial Hospital Spring Stride Road Race was a one of the region’s biggest road races, attracting more than 1,000 runners and walkers each year.

The 3.5-mile race, which began and ended at the hospital, was a fundraiser for L + M with staff members from various departments competing as teams.

But the hospital has announced today that it will no longer hold the race, which took place on the first Saturday in May, because of declining participation and sponsorship. The last few years about 700 people have competed each year.

Hospital spokesman Michael O’Farrell said that after comparing the costs of the race with the money coming back to the hospital  “we thought we would be better off doing fundraising in other ways.”

O’Farrell could not immediately provide figures about the cost of the race and how much it made for the hospital.

But he said the revenue was small compared to its other fundraising  events such as it annual gala —  which attracts 2,000 people and raised $350,000 last year — and its upcoming campaign for its new cancer center.

“If we’re expending energy to raise funds we want to be as efficient as we can,” he said.

He stressed the decision was in no way connected to the hospital's recent efforts to streamline its operations and lay off some workers.

He said hospital officials had been discussing the future of the race since last year's event.

“We debated it for a while,” he said, adding that the race fit the hospital’s mission to promote health and wellness.

“It means we’ll do that in other ways,” he said.

O’Farrell said that even with the loss of the race, the hospital feels that runners will not have any trouble finding other great events to run during the spring.

j.wojtas@theday.com