Last Saturday, Hopkins students gathered on the Beach to participate in a 5k Color Run as part of HOPtoberfest. The run raised $2,516 for Baltimore’s local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital: The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
The Hopkins Dance Marathon, the HOP, PEEPs and the Parent’s Fund sponsored the event.
A Color Run consists of a race with pit stops where volunteers throw non-toxic, washable paint powder at runners who pass by. Runners start the race with a white t-shirt and cross the finish line doused in a rainbow of colors. This weekend’s run encouraged both walkers and runners to participate.
Saturday’s race began on schedule at 1 p.m. and led runners from the top of the Beach and down around Homewood.
The first dousing of color was bright pink, which greeted runners after a water stop on the freshman quad. Volunteers threw yellow paint at runners by Mason Hall, as they doubled back towards the gym. The run looped back to finish at the Beach, getting a final dose of paint powder.
The race attracted 283 online registrants. Registration fees were $5 per person, and all proceeds went to the kids at Hopkins Children’s.
Additional donations were encouraged, and registrants were allowed to make teams with creative names to organize their friends to raise funds before the race. “Thais in Baltimore,” “Minerva’s Minions,” “Wolman 5 Beast” and the host team, “the Dance Marathon Executive Board,” were among the teams that raised the most funds.
The first 150 people to register for the race were entitled to free white 5k Color Run t-shirts to wear on the day of the race, which were handed out on Oct. 2 in the Levering Courtyard.
Eric Ryberg, a junior at Johns Hopkins and the president and founder of the John’s Hopkins running club, “See Hop Run,” was one of the participants in the race.
“This was my first Color Run, and I can say that I loved it!” Ryberg said. “Although the course was about a half mile short, the dyes and the relaxed atmosphere made the Color Run a great experience for everyone. And don’t get me started about buffet at the finish line! Delicious! The Color Run was a huge hit, and I hope to see it back again next year!”
Runners were free to enjoy a table of treats donated by the student health awareness group Preventative Education and Empowerment for Peers (PEEPs). Refreshments included Gatorade, water, bagels of every kind, apple slices, granola and plentiful ice. Additionally, free blue Dance Marathon water bottles were handed out to finishers while supplies lasted.
Children’s Miracle Network has been helping students host Dance Marathons, 8-hour dance events meant to raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network, since 1983 in over 150 colleges and high schools across the country. Dance Marathon has traditionally been their primary means of fundraising. Runners were able to waive the fee of registration for the Hopkins Dance Marathon if they registered the day of the race.
However, the world of 5k color races may be their next successful avenue of fund-raising. Anastasia Pierron, a co-president of the Johns Hopkins Dance Marathon team and a member of the Class of 2014, was eager to talk about the event, as a host and a participant herself.
“The Color Run was an amazing success, especially since it was the first one at Hopkins,” Pierron said. “We never expected for it to have such a huge turnout, and I’m so happy it did. Not only was the Color Run a success in participation from the Hopkins community, but it also raised over $2,500 for the children at the JHCC, a great cause!”
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