The Healthy Kids Running Series fall event will kick off at William Allen Middle School on Sunday, Sept. 27.
“Running is better together,” said township residents Gretchen Simmerson and Karen Romero, co-coordinators for Moorestown’s Healthy Kids Running Series. “As we celebrate kids returning to school and moving up grades, we look forward to seeing some kids move up distances and grow to be more confident.”
The Healthy Kids Running Series, founded in 2009, is a national movement that was created to motivate kids to lead a healthy and active lifestyle through a positive introduction to the world of running. The nonprofit believes that its cross-country inspired program will encourage kids to adopt a “Get Up and Go” attitude.
The five-week series is held both in the spring and fall for kids in grades pre-K through 8th. Each series takes place once a week and offers age-appropriate running events including the 50- and 75-yard dashes, the 1/4 mile, the 1/2 mile and the 1-mile run. Kids will earn points for each race they complete based on their finish.
The registration fee covers the entire five weeks of the series which includes race bibs for each week, a runner shirt, a finisher medal and any sponsor giveaways. Kids do not have to participate in all five weeks. Single day registration opens one hour before each race and must be completed onsite. The fee covers one race only. Moorestown’s program will also offer a Challenger Division which is an adaptive 75-yard race for children with disabilities and/or special needs. This allows parents and siblings to be on the course with runners to provide support as well as bringing their own supportive devices such as crutches, braces, wheelchairs, etc. to be used by runners.
All participants will receive a medal in the last week, and trophies will be awarded to the overall top finishers in different divisions. The series will be held rain or shine. Additional dates include Oct. 4; Oct. 11; Oct. 25; and Nov. 1. Locally, the series started in Cinnaminson in 2018 but changed its venue to accommodate more participants. It now operates as a Cinnaminson/Moorestown chapter. Simmerson and Romero, both runners, are also neighbors and already knew about the Healthy Kids Running Series. They decided to team up and bring the program back to their community because they wanted to introduce the sport to their children, and they also wanted to have it in place for families to enjoy for years to come.
“We’re excited to see kids run with their friends and have the Healthy Kids Running Series community and families cheer them on,” Simmerson and Romero said. “It’s really fun to see the kids smiling, and it really is a fun experience. Seeing them cross the finish line with a smile, seeing the parents and siblings cheer the kids on… It’s great camaraderie.”
“Healthy Kids is really about building an active, healthy lifestyle, and seeing the kids encourage each other and to see them cross the finish line with all this confidence, it is great to see,” Romero said.
Volunteers are also needed for the event. For more information on that or to register, visit www.runsignup.com/Race/NJ/Moorestown/HKRSCinnaminsonNJ.
The Healthy Kids Running Series is a national movement that was created to motivate kids to lead a healthy and active lifestyle through a positive introduction to the world of running. Moorestown’s five-week series will kick off at William Allen Middle School on Sunday, Sept. 27.
Each series takes place once a week and offers age-appropriate running events including the 50- and 75-yard dashes, the 1/4 mile, the 1/2 mile and the 1-mile run.
