Parkway West hosted the 5K FunRun on Sept. 9, in the stadium to fundraise for the Athletic Department.

“We didn’t do a charity because we were already doing a charity that week, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and we didn’t want to take away from their money,” Activities Director Brian Kessler said.

Big River Running Company sponsored the race.

“We pay them to run the race, and we ended up losing money,” Kessler said.

This was the first year West hosted the run on the Sunday before homecoming.

“We were just trying something new. We thought it was too busy for those people to do the game Friday night, run and decorate Saturday morning and the dance that night,” Kessler said. “Our main goal was to get our community involved for homecoming.”

Awards were given to the first three finishers per gender and per age group. There were multiple age groups: 18 and under, 18-29, 30-49. Senior Kidus Assefa came in first place overall in 21:23.

“The soccer team made me run, but I would have run regardless of soccer. It’s easy for me; I just ran ahead and beat the rest of the soccer team,” Assefa said.

Due to low attendance, the Athletic Department is reconsidering the value of the race.

“We have to talk about whether we are going to continue to do it and if we do, what day we are going to have it,” Kessler said. “The biggest inhibitor was having it on a Sunday morning…was not a good idea.”

The girl’s volleyball and boy’s soccer team participated in the race.

“Being with my girls made it fun,” junior Maddy Quoss said.

The Athletic Department’s vision for the race was to engage the community in a healthy lifestyle.

“It was something that promotes healthy living, and that should be the greatest motivation for all of us,” Kessler said.