At Active4Youth Elementary Cross Country meets, you’ll often see adults in yellow vests dashing ahead at the starting line, sometimes on bicycles. These “rabbits” set the course for the young runners so they don’t get lost along the route.
“They don't know how to pace yet. On that starting line, they’re just going to sprint and you need sprint faster,” Rogers High School junior Trenton explained.
Good thing Trenton and his fellow rabbits are members of the Rogers Cross Country team and can stay ahead of the elementary runners at the Rogers Zone Meet at Andrew Rypien Field in northeast Spokane.
“All these elementary kids around here, it just makes our community bigger and they're the future of our community so it's nice to incorporate them,” junior Damien said in between races while passing out snacks.
Throughout the meet, the Pirates hype up students from Arlington, Bemiss, Cooper, Lidgerwood, Longfellow, Regal and Whitman elementary schools before their races and shout encouragement as they finish. After crossing the finish line, Pirates pose with them for photos, holding up a Pirate flag to celebrate the future generation of Rogers rabbits.
“Community is a big important part of our culture here at Rogers. So just trying to get involved in the community any way we can is important to us,” said sophomore Ethan.
We’re grateful that volunteers like the Rogers Rabbits and our partners at Active4Youth who keep Spokane kids running. Good luck to all elementary runners who will be participating in the All City meet on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at Franklin Park!