In pink capes and colorful tutus, about 400 girls ran a 5K at Fort Lewis College on Saturday, showing off their girl power.
As the students in third through eighth grade created a small sea at the start line in their light blue shirts, the race fairies shouted encouragement and led them in cheers.
“When you smile, you run faster,” Jill Henwood told them through a megaphone.
The event was the culmination of the season for school-based Girls on the Run clubs. Members from Durango and cities across the region, including Norwood, Ridgway and Dolores, participated Saturday, said Henwood, executive director of the organization in Western Colorado. This was the first year Durango has hosted the event.
The running clubs aren’t competitive; rather, they focus on teamwork, confidence-building and bullying prevention as they train, Henwood said.
“We want every girl to feel welcome,” she said.
The first-place runner, Amelia Davenport, 11, said she wasn’t focused on winning. Her goal was to beat her best 5K time of 30 minutes and 30 seconds, and she did by almost 4 minutes. She was also pleased by how well her team from Animas Valley Elementary School performed.
“They were all doing well. A lot of the girls improved,” said the fifth-grader.
Girls on the Run is also aimed at helping girls get involved in extracurricular activities to help keep them engaged as they enter high school.
“Girls who are involved in something are less likely to get pregnant and drop out,” Henwood said.
Positive role models, like coaches and parents who get involved, are a key part of the girls’ success, and that’s part of the reason about 150 adults ran with the kids.
Samantha Simmons, 10, and her friend, Piper Franks, 8, started with Girls on the Run in September. At first, they were able to run only about a lap around a track.
“I wasn’t very good at running,” said Samantha, a fourth-grader at Mancos Elementary School.
On race day, Teri Simmons joined her daughter, Samantha, and Piper to be with them as they crossed the finish line.
Simmons, a runner herself, said she came along “to watch them accomplish a big goal for being so young.”