Members of the Waupaca Learning Center Mighty Milers trained together for the recent Riverside Medical Center Fun Run.
Students from the school started participating in the fun run about four years ago.
This year, the after school running club started meeting twice a week in mid March.
They ran together in preparation for the hospital’s fun run.
WLC teachers Mary Feldt and Linda Fenton worked together with the students, and this year, Charlie Fenton, Melissa Schleifer and a few parents helped, too.
They encouraged the club’s members to run on their own on the days that they did not meet. They wanted them to run with their families, and the students did.
The Mighty Milers logged a total of 1,093 miles this year, Feldt said.
A total of 39 students signed up for the program. Most were in third or fourth grade.
About 25 students ran the race, and twice as many family member ran with them, Feldt said.
They won the costume contest.
The program is supported by an ING Run For Something Better Grant, written last year by Feldt.
That grant paid for their T-shirts, running prizes and incentives, entry fees for the fourth graders and snacks for the students.
ING also provided orange laces for their running shoes.
Several days before this year’s fun run, students helped fold T-shirts for the run as a service project.
As a result, the hospital let the third graders who are in the club run for free.
The club plans to start training together again next fall, just in time for the school’s annual Turkey Trot.