"Is everyone ready to run?" Lakeview Elementary Physical Education Teacher Greg Fitts asked through his megaphone to the crowd of over 240 young runners.
The crowd of eager elementary school athletes cheered as the first heat lined up on the field behind Lakeview Elementary for the Annual Mahopac Elementary Cross-Country Race. The runners had been training for the race since the beginning of the year, and the spectators excitedly watched as their classmates took the field at Lakeview Elementary School.
"We're all so happy to have all three schools together for the run after all of their hard work," said Lakeview Elementary Principal Liz Blessing. "It's especially important to have chances to bring the fifth-grade classes together before next year when they all join the same sixth-grade class."
Students competed fiercely, wearing color-coded school team shirts provided to them through the PTO: white for Lakeview, black for Austin Road, and green for Fulmar Road.
"They are out there in the morning, on the wet grass, multiple times a week, practicing," said Austin Road Elementary Principal Bryan Gilligan. "This is a great way to celebrate all of the hard work and effort that they've put in to get to this point." Each heat provided students with a chance to show off what they had been training for all year. Parents, staff, and classmates cheered the runners on through each race. During the boy's eight and nine-year-old heat, the first-place finisher flashed across the finish line ahead of his peers, but with a peculiar gate.
"I lost... I lost my..." said fourth-grade Austin Road student Cruz Zeiler through ragged breaths. "I lost my shoe in the race..."
Many of the students who ran in last week's race will continue to train and go on to represent their schools in the Elementary 5k run later this year.