In an effort to raise money towards the fight against childhood cancer, Winthrop Team FTK and the Winthrop running club are hosting a 5K this Friday at the Winthrop Lake.
Check-in begins at 9 a.m. and the race, which costs $10 to participate, starts at 9:30.
“This 5k has been in the works since last year because it was always something that I knew I wanted to do with this club,” said Winthrop Team FTK president Kayley Ross.
Ross said Winthrop Team FTK has been working out the details of the event with the Winthrop running club since early February. According to Winthrop running club president Eden Crain, both organizations have wanted to put on a 5K for some time, but realized working together would be best.
“Pooling energy and resources makes it a lot more capable to pull off a large event like that,” Crain said.
Ross has also been in communication with Winthrop’s chief of police to secure a Winthrop police officer for the event’s course route.
Participants can park in the Terry Softball Complex parking lot, which is near where the race will start. The course will proceed on the paved loop around the Winthrop Lake, circling three times.
Both the Winthrop running club and Winthrop FTK are fairly new organizations on Winthrop’s campus.
“So we were kind of becoming a club in the midst of when COVID happened, so we’re coming up to the full year of being a club,” Crain said of the Winthrop running club.
Crain said the club began meeting for practices last spring, and now meets twice a week with at minimum four or five members at every practice.
Winthrop Team FTK (which stands for For The Kids) started at a similar time.
“When I came to Winthrop my freshman year, I worked hard to create and charter the club during my first fall semester of 2020,” Ross said. “After countless meetings, paperwork, and emails, the club became an official, active organization the following spring semester of 2021.
“However, this 2021-2022 academic year has been the first school year that we have been able to host in-person events and partner with businesses off-campus to put on different fundraisers,” Ross said.
For this particular fundraiser, money raised will go to Four Diamonds.
“Four Diamonds is a non-profit organization that works to conquer childhood cancer by funding research to find a cure and providing children and their families with superior care, treatment, and support,” Ross said.
Friday’s 5K is open for anyone to participate in, and it’s up to participants as to how competitive they want it to be.
“It’s a very low-pressure environment,” Crain said. “We don’t expect you to come and run the whole way if you don’t want to. If you want to walk the whole way, the best thing about a 5K is that you should still be done in an hour or less.”
Following the race, participants are invited to stay for free food and drinks, music and cornhole until noon. There will also be FTK and Four Diamonds merchandise for sale, including bracelets, pens, pins and stickers.
