While most students are gearing up for spring break getaways, others are preparing for a run around the block.
The Health and Exercise Science Student Association is hosting its first annual 10-kilometer run — the Sooner Spring 10K Tune-Up. Racing will take place at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Huston Huffman Center. The event was created to promote community wellness and health awareness, said Hilary Wright, event co-chair and health and exercise science junior.
“It’s great to see so many people coming together to strive for health, because that is not always a huge goal,” Wright said.
Preparations regarding the event date back to September. The idea for the race surfaced from the suggestion of Joel Cramer, professor in the Health and Exercise Science Department, said Hannah Turnage, organization vice president and health and exercise science junior.
“Dr. Cramer thought it would be a good to do a 10K race because he runs the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon,” Turnage said. “We were like, OK maybe we really should do this.”
After the idea was cemented, plans were put into place to carry out the event. For the past seven months, the organization has prepared for the race by creating a course for the runners, contacting the OU and Norman police departments, making race-day goody bags for participants, getting Boomer to make an appearance and much more, Turnage said.
The race will begin at the Huston Huffman Center and continue around campus ending back at the starting position.
“A 10K is 6.21 miles so it took a lot of turns to get it all just on campus,” Wright said. “But we did it and it’s a really fun view.”
Following the event, there will be an awards ceremony held at the Huston Huffman. Rather than medals, prizes will be awarded to the winners of various categories ranging from age groups to place completed in the race.
To date, more than 100 runners have registered for the race. Registration can be completed online at hes.ou.edu until 5 p.m. Friday and on race day from 7 to 7:45 a.m. The cost of registration is $20. All proceeds from registration will go toward creating new scholarships for the OU Health and Exercise Science Department, Wright said.
Runners from all age groups and communities are able to participate. Oklahoma, California, Tennessee and Colorado are a few of the many states represented in the race, Wright said.
“There is going to be a big variety of people, for sure,” Turnage said.
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leimapapa 2 years, 2 months ago
Sounds fun but a bit steep. I'd totally do it for $10. Couldn't it cost students less if we don't care to get a shirt?