Wednesday, Jul. 30, 2008
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Girls on the Run breaks more barriers with 5K event
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closeIn the 1970s, when high school girls’ track and cross country programs were just getting started in most states, girls weren’t allowed to run distances longer than a mile.
The third-, fourth-, and fifthgraders in the Girls on the Run program would find that hard to believe. Even many of their mothers wouldn’t have any memories of the days when girls were told long-distance running might be unhealthy for them.
But their grandmothers … well, that’s another story. When they were growing up, an activity such as the first WonderGirl 5K race on Saturday, Aug. 2, would have been unheard of.
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REGISTRATION FOR THE WONDERGIRL 5K Registration: Register online at www.whatcomfamilyymca.org or in person at any Whatcom Family YMCA branch. Race-day registration will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2. Cost: $10 for WonderGirls and $20 for WonderWomen, who receive costume jewelry as well as the foam tiara given to all WonderGirls. Race information: Call Amber Swim at (360) 733-8630. Girls on the Run information: www.girlsontherun.org.
“This is going to be a very special day for running in Bellingham,” said Amber Swim, who is finishing her first year as coordinator/coach of the Whatcom Family YMCA-affiliated Girls on the Run program, which is designed for girls 8 to 11 who have not yet enrolled in middle school.
“This is the first time we’ve had a celebration to end our one-week summer camp for Girls on the Run, and we’re planning to make it an annual event,” said Swim, who coordinates the now-traditional 10-week fall and spring sessions for Girls on the Run. “We’ll start at 9 a.m. at the Barkley Village Gazebo, and everyone in the area is invited to participate, including boys and men.
“It’s a non-competitive event, and our goal is to celebrate the strength, confidence and character in girls and women.”
The event is a fundraiser for Girls on the Run. “Wonder- Girls” will receive a foam tiara for a $10 donation and Wonder- Women will get both the tiara and costume jewelry.
“We are raising funds we need for scholarships,” Swim said in a phone interview. “In 2007, Girls on the Run offered half of our total participants either full or partial scholarships to girls who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate in our program.”
The one-week Girls on the Run summer camps, both at Lake Padden and in north county locales, began Monday, July 28, and will be capped by the WonderGirl 5K.
Swim, 25, recalls she was “never a highly competitive runner,” but greatly enjoyed participating in four years of by Molly Barker in North Carolina in 1996 as a way to encourage pre-teen girls to develop self-confidence, selfrespect and healthy lifestyles through running and learning,” Swim said.
“There are now more than 160 Girls on the Run councils across the United States and Canada,” she said. “The local girls on the run program was founded in 2001 by Nancy Tupper.”
Swim is excited by how the program has grown.
“We served 250 girls in Whatcom County in the past year in fall, spring and summer Girls on the Run,” said Swim, who coordinates a network of more than 30 volunteer female counselors who serve as role models for 14 small groups of girls, with a maximum of 15 girls per the chance to make new friends and gain so much from their adult mentors.”
The 10-week sessions range in cost from $85 to $110, depending on how often they meet, and that is why this fundraiser is special, Swim said. Girls on the Run does not want to turn away any girl, so scholarships are vital.
“I really feel the sense of accomplishment our girls develop carries on in all aspects of their lives,” Swim said. “They learn that ‘inside beauty’ is more important than what’s outside.”
Many of the girls who will run Saturday will be completing in their first 5K.
“One girl’s mother told me her daughter had never done a 5K before joining Girls on the Run, and now she wants to try triathlons,” Swim said.
soccer, track and cross country at Kent-Meridian High School and at Western Washington University for a season in each sport.
She’s among the younger generation of females who never faced any barriers to long-distance running in high school, yet who never had the opportunity to participate in Girls on the Run.
“Girls on the Run was created group.
“We keep the groups small so each girl can receive a lot of individual attention,” she said. “Some groups meet to run and talk once a week, and others meet twice. In addition to running, we talk about topics such as healthy nutrition and why bullying and gossiping are so harmful.
“We talk about standing up for themselves. I think it’s a wonderful program. Girls get
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