Hundreds of students from Osoyoos Elementary School lined up at the starting line to participate in last Friday’s Nighthawk Learn to Run Program annual fun run. (Keith Lacey Photo).
If the eager anticipation of more than 300 school children lined up on the starting line tells the story, the Nighthawk Learn to Run Program at Osoyoos Elementary School is one the students truly enjoy.
For the fourth consecutive year, the local elementary school has sponsored a running program to encourage students to not only learn how to run with proper form, but to promote fitness and a healthy lifestyle, said veteran teacher Dean Rowland.
Last Friday, more than 300 of the school’s 325 students lined up to participate the fun run that officially concludes the program each year.
The program runs for eight weeks following the March Break and encourages students – as well as teachers and support staff – to get outside and run three days per week for two months.
“The first couple of years it was basically an invitation-type policy for students and staff we thought might want to participate in some walking and running,” said Rowland. “But the past couple of years, we’ve basically tried to offer the learn to run program to all of our students and staff and it has just taken off.”
To have more than 90 per cent of the students sign up to participate in the fun run is very encouraging and a strong statement that the Nighthawk Learn to Run Program is going to be around for many years to come, said Rowland.
Some of the top athletes at the school ran a 10-kilometre course, while students in Grades 2, 3 and 4 ran a five-kilometre loop. There was even a one-kilometre run or walk for students in kindergarten and Grade 1.
The program has not only improved the overall fitness level of the vast majority of students, but it has also resulted in improved performances at the school’s annual track and field meet as well as the district meet, which is scheduled to take place next Friday, June 10 in Keremeos, said Rowland.
