Over 130 participants gathered at the Trail Creek Park on Saturday, October 26 to promote living a healthy lifestyle at the annual iRun/Walk for the Health of It Run/Walk in Athens, GA.
People who wished to participate in the event were asked to register by October 20 to insure they received a t-shirt after the race. Check-ins began at 7:30 am and the race was scheduled to last from 8:30 to 11 am with the Community Health Fair following until 2 pm.
The race began at 9 am when the organizers prayed over the cause and for the safety of everyone participating. Runners had to follow a 6.9-kilometer path around the park until they reached the finish line. Water and encouragement from volunteers was provided at rest stops along the way.
Alanna Hicks-King and Latease Bailey-Close are co-chairs in charge of organizing the Community Health Fair and sisters of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. These women met 27 years ago when they pledged the DST sorority at the University of Georgia.
Delta Sigma Theta was founded January 13, 1913, by 22 women who wanted to impact society through sisterhood. It is the largest amongst the nine traditionally African American Greek letter organizations. The Community Health Fair was a project from last year that DST wanted to continue in order to celebrate their 50thanniversary of being active on the UGA campus and in the Athens community.
Hicks-King and Bailey-Close are members of the Delta Sigma theta Sorority, Inc.’s 50thAnniversary Committee who partnered with the Athens Neighborhood Health Center, family Connection-Communities in Schools of Athens, and the Athens-Clarke County Health Department to organize this event and promote physical and mental health within the Athens community.
iRun for the Health of It Run/Walk is a not-for-profit event that partners with other organizations in sponsorships or donations to raise money and awareness for adult and child obesity.
“There are some issues in the community that we need to address, obesity and mental issues are some of those,” explains Hicks-King, “We need to have more informational sessions where we bring in experts to the community… That’s what Delta Sigma Theta tries to do all around the world, it’s our national platform.”
iRun for the Health of It has been an annual event, but this was the first year that a health fair was organized following the run. Several vendors came out to encourage and inform people in the Athens community to live healthier lives by talking about natural health care products, insurance, elderly/senior citizen services, breast cancer awareness, and a plethora of other health services.
“We felt that it was very successful, we know areas where we can improve upon next time to get more information out to the community and people on campus. We have made connections with people at the health fair and iRun organizations, so we have resources for the next time we organize it,” said Hicks-King speaking on behalf of herself and Bailey-Close.
There were many people from the Athens community that came to volunteer at the event. While the participants were running, volunteers set up for the Community Health Fair that was to follow. They danced to lively music as they worked with each other to get everything set up on time.
Taylor Pass, 30, an Athens native and volunteer at the run, believes “it’s important to get out in the community and help people start a new journey to a healthier lifestyle.” To instill a healthy lifestyle, Pass coaches football at Cedar Shoals High School and enjoys working out and eating healthy.
“This is our most lively run!” exclaims Adrian Kim, 24, an employee of Runners Fit Race Works, a full-service race timing company that recorded and documented the participants time when they finished the race.
“An event like this provides not only an educational source but it’s a form of motivation to people who struggle with healthy living,” said Kim.
Kim and his co-worker clocked the first person to finish the race at 33:45 minutes which was 17-year-old Jasiri Hutchens from Athens, GA.
Hicks-King and Bailey-Close want to keep hosting this event, as well as to plan more informational community events to promote living a healthier lifestyle.
“Community service is second nature to us – it’s what we do,” confessed Hicks-King.
