WHITEHALL — Maybe the growth of the RunIt 5K would have happened anyway, maybe not, but the addition of a color run sure seemed Saturday morning to have been a huge hit.
Over 350 finishers were recorded - last year’s race had 300 recorded finishers - and that may not have accounted for everyone. Race director Jenna Sorensen of White Lake Nutrition, the host of the event, announced to the assembled masses prior to race time that so many people registered for the race that there were no more available bibs. Luckily, some kind souls who didn’t care about their time passed along bibs to people who did.
The upbeat atmosphere was obvious, as dance music was played prior to the race, including some of Ava VanderStelt’s favorites; the race is in its third year of supporting a scholarship in VanderStelt’s name as well as the Hope Squad, a peer-to-peer mental health awareness group. VanderStelt passed away in 2022.
As in past years, VanderStelt’s mom, Bridget Knapp, spoke in support of mental health awareness prior to the race. Pastor Jeremy Wegner of Hope Bible Chapel led a pre-race prayer. Very unlike past years, the final minutes leading up to the race featured many of the race participants flinging colored dust into the air, creating a brightly colored mass of formerly white t-shirts.
The color run, Sorensen said a couple of weeks prior to the RunIt 5K, was “a fun adjustment and change to the race,” and most of the runners agreed. Participants were of course permitted to opt out of having colored dust flung at them throughout the race, but most happily signaled to onlookers to douse them. Pink, yellow, blue, bright green and more colors made their imprints on skin and shirts alike. It was all part of the efforts made to create a positive and warm atmosphere in support of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Knapp told the crowds pre-race that as difficult as it’s been to live life without her daughter, it brings her joy to see so many come together in her memory.
The results were, of course, beside the point, but for the second year in a row it was Carter McIlroy, former Whitehall distance running star, who took first place, securing an impressive time of 15:46.8, a half-minute better than his winning time in 2023. Several other recent White Lake area athletes raced and did well, including fellow Vikings Andre Richmond, Drew Boeringa and Cami Kraai, who each placed in the top 10, as well as former Montague Wildcat Kaden Hainer. Vikings’ cross-country coach Jeff Bassett was also among the runners and was the highest finisher over 30 years of age, placing seventh. Many other former Whitehall and Montague athletes, and potential future ones, were part of the race.
