Memorial Day Boulder Boulder 10K has launched a new youth initiative this year: Bold Squad. Medals will be awarded to all Bold Squad participants who complete the Boulder Boulder by walking, running, or jogging. The program included training runs run by race sponsor Runner's Roost in South Boulder. (d'Layne Features – Photo provided)
When Rich Castro was an elementary school student, the son of immigrant farm workers in California, he was too tall to play basketball, too small to play football, and had never played baseball. He spent his summers working on prunes and walnuts. He planted an orchard with his parents and earned 25 cents for each crate filled.
As an avid athlete, running was Castro's outlet, his sport, his life's work and passion. The Boulder resident for 50 years said being selected for his school's relay team was a way to find his place. Mr. Castro, 76, a former coach, agent, and intramural director at the University of Colorado, always remembers running in elementary school, which is why he started the Columbine Mile Marathon in 1978. One of them was, yes, one year before the first Boulder Boulder Tournament.
The 2024 Columbine Mile is scheduled for Tuesday morning at Columbine Elementary School, 3130 Leplayer St. Hundreds of children run one mile through neighborhood streets, with each grade level doing their own wave start and being cheered on by teachers, family, friends and local residents. Olympic runners come to support us every year.
“It's not just a school event, it's a community event,” said Melanie Schoenberg, a parent of a third-grader at Columbine.The mile marathon, which starts at 9 a.m. and is free to the public, said: He added that it fosters the joy of running and helps maintain good health. Teach life skills. “It's mainly led by the kids. They design the T-shirts. They train for it. They raise money for it.”
Castro said the Columbine Mile “helps connect kids with the world outside of school, and that's a great thing.”
The “Boulder Boulder 10K,'' for which Mr. Castro served as elite athlete coordinator for many years, contributed to the promotion of youth running, which has become a boom not only in Boulder but nationwide. The race recognizes and records age-specific competition and has given tens of thousands of children their first experience of running, often with their parents holding hands.
Many of these young men continued to run through high school, college and beyond, and are now parents who take their children to the annual Memorial Day race, which takes place one week from today. . Boulder Boulder has expanded its youth program this year, with all participants 14 and under now enrolled in the new “Bold Squad.”
“When we evaluated the race, we wanted to include as many kids as possible,” said Boulder Boulder Partnership Director Alice Swanson. “It was really fun to see them receive training packets and stickers to track their training. We send them monthly emails and so far it seems to be popular. Final results I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
Swanson added, “The best part is that everyone in the Bold Squad who completes the race will earn a Bold Squad medal.”
These Bold Squad kids are supposed to be special. Even the winners of professional races don't receive medals (though they do receive big checks). Approximately 5,000 young people have registered for Bold Squad, and most are expected to finish.
“There's a lot of medals,” Swanson said. “We had a lot of medals planned. We want to make it special for them. And if they can run fast and get good experience, they'll keep running. We know that is our goal.”
Kick2Build Summer Camp: Former Ghanaian professional soccer player Nana Boakye has the energy of an exploding supernova and is the star of Wawa Summer Days' multi-sport and cultural arts camp, another vibrant youth athletics program, and 6 It will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from the 3rd to the 7th of August, and again on August 2nd. From the age of 5 until he was 9 years old. High-energy, fun camps for ages 5 to 13 at Horizon K-8 Charter School combine soccer, track and other sports with music, drumming, dance, and art to connect with the same community and peers. Build awareness. Many runners have completed his Boulder Training program. More information: kick2build.org.
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