After a successful inaugural year, 300 Detroit Public School Community District students will participate in the second annual Kids Marathon event, part of the 48th annual Detroit Free Press Marathon presented by MSU Federal Credit Union.
The Kids Marathon presented by Priority Health is open to youths between the ages of 6 and 13. Each child will have until Friday, Oct. 17, to complete the first 25.2 miles at their own pace and will need to track their progress through a log sheet, which is available online. Then, on Saturday, Oct. 18, all participants will gather near the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy to finish their final mile of the event.
Similar to last year’s event, the Free Press Marathon partnered with 5 schools from the Detroit Public School Community District. The partnership provides free registration and a pair of free running shoes for each student.
Three of the schools are returning for the second year (Golightly Education Center, John R. King and Davison Elementary-Middle School) in addition to two new schools, Bates Academy and Mark Twain School for Scholars.
Anika McEvans, assistant athletic director for DPSCD, said the opportunity is important to not only encourage kids to be active but to work together.
“At the end of the day, regardless of what school they attend, these are Detroiters, and they have to learn how to engage not just on the track, or in school, but in the world in general,” she said. “And although it is a competitive sport, you’ll find that it’s also a collaborative sport. … This is also a lifelong skill and lifelong activity, which is one of the reasons that this sport and this opportunity in particular is pretty special compared to some other sports.”
‘A sense of belonging’
McEvans said each school that was selected to participate in the event were determined based on “a group of stakeholders” that have helped impact their respective schools’ athletic programs. Those “stakeholders” include coaches, teachers and parents.
The Kids Marathon is a centerpiece of the sports offerings at Mark Twain School for Scholars, located in southwest Detroit, which has had an athletic program for only two years.
Dr. Jemel Hence said that in the first year, sports were available only to kids in between fifth and eighth grade. Going into the second year of development, he wanted the community to help with the growth.
“We mixed it in with family and community engagement, because we knew that this is what the community wanted,” Hence said. “We had strategically hired parents in certain positions for our climate and culture team, our PTA, our security officers, all our coaches volunteered and their parents. So when we saw that and we saw the impact it was having on our children, the next year we expanded to k-8.”
Hence said it was import for the students to have an athletic program since the school is the only DPSCD school that far south and west of the city and, he said, is often forgotten about.
“It’s about developing children. It’s about developing opportunities,” he said. “Enrollment in the past has gone up and down and these kids deserve to have something they can connect to.”
He also said that the school’s participation is a way for students to connect with their communities.
“Children are getting the opportunity to get free shoes and walk through their community of the city of Detroit, and that gives them exposure. That makes them feel like they have purpose, that makes them feel like they’re a part of a team,” he said. “And I think that’s one of the strongest things you can give children is a sense of belonging.”
Perks of running
At Bates Academy, located on the west side of Detroit, children were sized for their shoes inside the school’s library. De’John Dumas, a 6-year-old first grader at the school, tested out his shoes by running through the library, putting smiles on the faces of everyone in the room.
“They feel a lot greater than these shoes,” Dumas said, holding his Nike Cortez sneakers. He said that the running shoes provided more support.
Classmates Riley Jennings and Mason Harwell run for Bates’ track team at the school. Jennings said she enjoys running as a distraction from everyday life.
“It feels good because when you run track and do stuff like this, it takes your mind off other things, whether it’s school or anything,” the 12-year-old from Detroit said.
Harwell agreed with Jennings.
“I like track because if I’m feeling down or angry, I’ll run it off,” he said.
David Bailey, principal at Bates Academy, said that the school has a strong running culture and wants to see kids continue to participate in activities like the Kids Marathon.
“We want to make sure our kids our healthy on a day-to-day basis, and we also want to make sure we’re teaching them how to remain healthy,” he said. “Anytime we can partnership with anybody around the city that gets them engaged in running, being active, is always a good thing.”
Registration for the Kids Marathon is still open and costs $35 per participant. For more information about the Kids Marathon and other events during the weekend visit freepmarathon.com.
Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work at bit.ly/freepRFA.
Contact Eric Guzmán: eguzman@freepress.com; 313-222-1850. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @EricGuzman90.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: A new class of students from DPSCD schools gear up for second annual Kids Marathon
Reporting by Eric Guzmán, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
