CSU East Bay students, faculty members, and Hayward community members all joined together early Saturday morning to line up on the Pioneer soccer field, waiting to begin the school’s first annual Hayward Hills 5K challenge.
Shortly after 9 a.m., runners of all ages and athletic abilities sped out of the gate of the stadium and circled around the perimeter of the school for a three-mile run.
CSUEB’s track and cross country team partnered with ASI to begin planning this event last fall with the goal of strengthening the university’s relationship with the community as well as encouraging health and wellness.
The event consisted of a 5k run and walk at 9:00 a.m. and costed $10 for students and $30 to the public. A free run for youth ages 12 and younger, started at 10 a.m., and an awards ceremony was held for top finishers at 11:00 a.m.
“We didn’t know what to expect because we have never conducted a race of this magnitude,” Marty Valdez, assistant sports information director said shortly after finishing the run. “It was the students, faculty, and staff, who helped put this event together. We wanted to get the community involved because we hope to get them involved with a lot of our activities here on campus.”
Overall Valdez, as well as other participants, found the event to be successful.
“Everybody is happy and having a good time,” he said. “It’s a good chance to mingle with people you know before the race, meet new people, and see people you haven’t seen in a while.”
Junior and kinesiology major Brett Hall crossed the finish line first for the 9 a.m. runners with a time of 17:20. His dedication to training on the baseball team, as well as, to CSUEB’s athletics program served as his motive for registering for the event.
“I train all the time; I run about 8 to10 miles and keep a 6:30 pace,” Hall said. “I heard that it was only ten bucks to sign up, so I figured why not make a team and support the school.”
Emily Perez the women’s top finisher during the 9 a.m. run crossing the finish line in 19:46:32.
Awards were presented to the top team, along with the top individual male and female in each age group.
“The run felt really good because I worked really hard and I really want to show everyone what I can do,” Perez said.
Head Coach Ralph Jones, of the track and cross-country team, was also pleased with the turn out of the event.
“It was awesome, I think we accomplished what we wanted by getting a lot of people from the local community up here on the hill and I’m excited for what we’ve got going on,” he said.
The 5k, which featured 200 runners, is only one of the many events CSUEB Athletics has hosted as part of its community engagement initiative, reported the CSUEB Athletics’ website.
The Pioneers have hosted the ‘Pioneers Play’ fitness program that reached 140 elementary school girls last fall, the ‘Read with the Pioneers’ literacy program which encourages at-home reading, and ‘Youth Days at the Bay’ which encourages young athletes in the community to come to sporting events where they can interact with Pioneer student-athletes on the baseball, basketball, soccer, and softball teams, reported CSUEB Athletics.
After a successful day, Jones shares his vision for expanding the event.
“Eventually I want it to be huge, where people are coming here from all over the state!” He exclaimed. “But initially, we wanted to first bring in our own back yard and strengthen our relationship with the local community because there are a lot of great businesses here in Hayward. We want them to know that we’re here supporting them and that we will be hosting events like this so they can be part of it in the future.”
