For close to 30 years, the Hartford Marathon Foundation has been getting Connecticut kids up and running.
The nonprofit has four youth programs for children from ages 2 to when they hit their senior year of high school.
Programming spans from getting young children excited about running to having them participate in short distance fun runs to hosting a five-week training program that teaches kids how to incorporate daily exercise into their everyday life.
At the end of the five-week program, students run their final “FitKids” mile together.
This year’s final mile event took place on Friday at New Britain’s Walnut Hill Park. More than 1,300 students in grades four through eight came from 25 schools across the state to run.
Josh Miller, president of the Hartford Marathon Foundation, said the organization’s youth options teach kids “the benefits that come from running, from walking, from being active and having that be a part of your lifestyle.”
Miller said that the Hartford Marathon Foundation’s youth programs are open to students across Connecticut, but due to “our physical presence,” many participants are from the greater Hartford area.
“We want to see more and more schools be involved,” he added.
Sunset Ridge Middle School in East Hartford was one of 25 schools to participate in Hartford Marathon Foundation’s final mile event on Friday. (Clarus Multimedia Group/Courtesy of Clarus Multimedia Group Foundation)
About 30 students from East Hartford’s Sunset Ridge Middle School took part in Friday’s run. Many of the school’s participants are not kids who are on sports teams, said Irvin Girard, the school’s point person for the program. For these students, the program is a way to encourage them to live a healthier lifestyle.
“We talk about nutrition, proper nutrition. … When you’re at home, instead of going for the chips, maybe eat an apple,” Girard said.
Sunset Ridge Middle School has been participating in this program for four years. At first, getting students to the run was a challenge. But now the Hartford Marathon Foundation is able to provide transportation through funding from a Southbury pediatrician, Dr. Susan Beris.
“We don’t have to worry about it anymore, right?” Girard said. “So we are able to just concentrate on providing the resources for the students, the social-emotional piece, to talk about the healthy lifestyle piece.”
Beris’ funding has also helped the foundation expand its programming and offer grants to high school running programs in underserved communities.
Orville H. Platt High School is one of four Connecticut high schools to get funding from the Hartford Marathon Foundation for its running program. (Courtesy of Clarus Multimedia Group/Hartford Marathon Foundation)
This year, Meriden’s Orville H. Platt High School, Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, New Britain High School and East Hartford High School are receiving $2,500 each to provide snacks, transportation and more for their programs.
Samantha Wolfer, Platt’s cross-country coach, said the grants make a big difference.
“It was the best feeling being able to tell (the athletes),” she said. “Because looking at it from their perspective, when we go to these big cross-country meets and they see the more well-off schools with all of their stuff and all of their signs and all of their equipment, and kind of the things we don’t have, to be able to be like ‘Hey guys, we got all of this money and we can do whatever we want with it for what we need,’ their eyes lit up like Christmas morning.”
This article originally published at Hartford Marathon Foundation enticing kids to run and lead a healthy lifestyle.