Iron River students get active and colorful at annual run

IRON RIVER, Mich. (WLUC) - As a part of their last day of school Friday, West Iron County students went outside for an annual 5K.

Students from the West Iron County School District gathered at Nanaimo Park in Iron River Friday morning for the annual Wykon Family Fun Run. Runners ran along the Apple Blossom Trail and ended at the Iron County Historical Museum. This was the tenth year of the 5K and organizer Denise Maloney said the goal is to encourage students to be active.

“We also raise money each year for a different agency in town that supports families and children. This year, we are partnering with Thrivent, and we did a can drive where our students and staff brought in cans,” Maloney said.

Maloney said Thrivent will match up to $3,000 and the cans will be donated to their local Saint Vincent de Paul food pantry. Maloney said she was happy to see all sorts of people come out Friday.

“With our school 5K, it’s all of the students and all of the staff. We have serious 5K runners, we have kindergarteners skipping along. We have babies in strollers and we’ve had grandmas and grandpas. We had a couple of girls in wheelchairs. What I love is that everybody is out moving together,” Maloney said.

A student who participated Reegan Mientke said their favorite thing about the 5K goes beyond running.

“You get to meet new people and like you get more colors on you, you know like I got to put some in my hair and my glasses got all dirty, like you get to run or walk,” Mientke said.

Maloney says planning starts now for next year’s fun run, and she says she already has a few ideas in mind.

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