PS 107 Students Don Antlers And Dash Through Prospect Park On Reindeer Run

PS 107 kids (plus reindeer!) on the course of the NYRR Reindeer Run. (Courtesy NYRR)

While some of you were just taking the first sip of your morning coffee last Saturday, Prospect Park was festive and packed with runners and antlers for the New York Road Runners’ Jingle Bell Jog, a four-mile benefit race, and NYRR’s Reindeer Run, a distance of nearly three-quarters of a mile.

In addition to over 5,200 participants for the Jingle Bell Jog, the Reindeer Run had the largest turnout to date — 445 finishers, including 205 boys and 240 girls, all between the ages of 7-12.

The Reindeer run was packed with local students. Led by Assistant Coach Mary Vines, 81 kids from PS 107 participated in both races.

Students and runners Erika Shiffman and Jesse Degn (each in 5th grade, and 10 years old) were honored for receiving their first Marathon of Miles (running 26.2 cumulative miles) medals for the 2015-2016 school year. Both have been participants in the Mighty Milers youth running program since they were in Kindergarten at P.S. 107.

(From left to right): Peter Ciaccia, NYRR President of Events & Race Director of the TCS NYC Marathon, Michael Rodgers, NYRR VP of Development & Philanthropy,Michael Capiraso, NYRR President & CEO, Erika Shiffman, PS 107 Mighty Miler, 5th grade, 10 years old, Jess Degn, PS 107 Mighty Miler, 5th grade, 10 years old. (Courtesy NYRR)

“I love running because it is fun! My favorite part of running is running with friends,” says Shiffman. “I love being part of the PS 107 Track Team because it is fun and there are always people to support you.”

Degn speaks about the excitement of crossing the finish line. “I am very proud to have run a marathon and get a medal because I did not think I could do it and now I have a lot of marathon medals,” he said. “I really like being part of the PS 107 Track Team because it is really fun to be on it because we run a lot and I really like running lots of races.”

In the 2014-2015 school year, NYRR served 37,500 children in 169 Brooklyn sites via NYRR Mighty Milers and NYRR Young Runners, the most of any borough in New York City. Nearly 27,000 Mighty Milers at 116 Brooklyn sites ran nearly 1,000,000 miles.

Assistant Coach Mary Vines speaks of the importance of the running program at her school. “PS 107’s PE Teacher Ms. Diane has not only implemented the Mighty Milers program at PS 107 for the past five years, she has made it an integral part of the PE curriculum,” says Vines. “Through Mighty Milers she has introduced thousands of kids to running and shown them that anyone can run and have fun.”

To learn more about NYRR’s free youth running programs, you can visit www.nyrr.org.