Myrtle Beach Marathon’s Fun Run brings out competition, tradition for Horry County schools

Diehard runners have three races to choose from this weekend, but for those who want to run or walk at their own pace, there’s the Ripley’s Aquarium 1-Mile Family Fun Run.

The Fun Run will be held Friday at 5:30 p.m. with the start and finish at Ripley’s Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach.

For the uninitiated, expect about 2,000 to show up for this year’s event, said Shaun Walsh, co-founder of the Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon. That number will include a huge contingent of Horry County Schools students who have made the Fun Run a tradition.

Walsh said the Fun Run was added to the events in 1999, a year after the marathon began. In 2003, the school district became a beneficiary of the event, which awards a traveling trophy to the school with the most participants – not that it has traveled thus far.

Seaside Elementary School in Garden City Beach has taken the competition every year and intends to defend its title again this year, said Principal Beth Selander. She said the school first became involved with the marathon by manning the mile 25 water station, so joining the Fun Run was a natural extension.

“It’s something we’ve always done, and this was a way for our kids to get really involved,” Selander said.

The Fun Run is a fundraiser for school physical education departments. The entry fee is $15, which also covers a T-shirt, meal and time to tour the aquarium. The race gives schools $2 for each participant, and those who aren’t affiliated with a school can designate one to receive their portion.

“Seaside has totally embraced it as a community,” said Marsha Lawson, who has been race director for the last 12 years and works as a speech pathologist for the school system.

She said the race attracts students in sixth grade and under, and there are about 10 schools that regularly participate. She said there are some new schools joining the event this year, as well as stalwarts such as Loris Elementary School, which makes the trip to the beach with some who participate every year.

“We get everyone from babies to grandparents,” she said. “It’s great for the kids and for a lot of older people who can’t do other events but want to participate in some way.”

Seaside, which currently has about 740 students, has turned out about 800 participants in earlier years, reaching about 1,000 just a couple years ago. Students such as fourth-graders Jack Gore, 10, and Grace Hutton, 9, have grown up with the race and will be back in it this year.

“I’m going to try and win it,” said Gore, who said he really likes to run throughout the race and start at the front of the pack.

Hutton said she will run for some of the race, “but my mom and dad go really slow, so sometimes, I have to slow down for them.”

Every year, the school has held Pajama Day the Friday following the race, where the school receives its trophy and everyone can celebrate, Selander said. This year, she and other teachers will be dying their hair as an added incentive to win and retain the trophy.

But while excitement is as high as always, Selander said the school decided to set a more modest goal this year of 650 participants to remove some of the pressure for students to join.

“Last year, we realized it’s hurting some of our families,” said Selander, who said the economy has made it more difficult for many to pay for entry fees.

Terry Lee, physical education teacher at Lakewood Elementary School in Myrtle Beach, said his school has participated for the last 10 to 12 years, and that they, too, have pulled back a little because of the economy.

“This year has been low-key,” Lee said. “We didn’t set a goal this year. I understand with the economy, and I didn’t want to push the families too hard or put undue pressure on the parents.”

Lee said this year, Lakewood has about half of the participants it had last year – around 120 to 130 – but that the event is a great fundraiser where the kids can let loose and have fun.

Walsh said the race grew steadily from day one, hitting around 600 participants in 2003 and doubling the next year when Seaside really got behind the event. At its peak in 2007, the event had close to 3,000 participants, but numbers fell off the next year to around 1,800, then started to climb again. Walsh attributed the earlier drop to the economy, but said the numbers are holding now around 2,200.

Selander said Seaside and Lakewood have felt some competition over the Fun Run in the past, including some friendly sparring between her and Lakewood’s former principal, Thom Rex, who retired last year. This year, she said she’s hearing rumblings from Ocean Bay Elementary School, which could be stepping up its game, but the fundraising aspect of the event benefits everyone.

“It can add up,” said Walsh, who said that Seaside used its proceeds to fund its rock-climbing wall. “They saved two years worth of funds … That’s a great legacy for the kids who ran that year and those coming up.”

The Fun Run course has changed over the years – starting at the former Air Force base, moving to BB&T Coastal Field and settling at Broadway at the Beach – and now starts and finishes at Ripley’s, with a segment going through the aquarium, which Walsh said gets “absolutely crazy.”

“It is crazy in there and it’s very chaotic, but it’s organized chaos,” Lawson said. “The course goes through the sharks’ tunnel, so we can say we’re the only race in America that runs under water.”