By Anderson Colemon/tr news editor
Photo by Georgia Phillips/The Collegian
Nearly 1,000 runners took advantage of the brisk morning by participating in TCC’s Toro Dash Nov. 2 in Fort Worth’s Trinity Park.
Kyle Hitt placed first in the men’s 10K with a time of 37:34 while Brianne Robbins won among women clocking in at 38:32. Elizabeth Eder had the fastest 5K time at 17:33 while William Carrera won among men at 19:22.
Students across the district participated in the race, and some came as volunteers. TR student Adrian Vasquez said he had to do something when he heard of the Toro Dash, so he volunteered.
“It feels good to help them out even though it is a cold morning,” Vasquez said about the 53-degree morning.
Sponsors at the run like HealthSource of Fort Worth raised around $9,000 toward the TCC Foundation’s scholarship fund and TCC’s Wellness Fund.
The first run to begin was the less competitive 1K run where participants could walk or jog. Children were invited to join the 1K with their parents and won awards for their participation.
NW students Margarita Momtano and Gina Bussey said they were excited to join in because it was Momtano’s first time and Bussey wanted to support her friend.
“I saw the fliers around school, and I told [Bussey] about it and she said ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ but we’re only competing in the fun run [1K] because we aren’t in shape for the 5K,” Momtano said jokingly.
The 5K and 10K runs began minutes after the 1K, but before they began, NE registrar Brian Barrett sang the national anthem.
NW honor society president Sam Cook was the first from the club to cross the finish line. However, he said the track this year was much better than last year’s. The track was altered last year because of construction.
Cook placed 17th among timed runners ages 20-24 in the 5K.
“I really enjoyed the run,” he said after racing another participant to the finish line. “The track was different in the course layout and longer.”
Awards were handed out to those in first, second and third place in the 5K and 1K, and all registered participants received goodie bags and an event T-shirt. Run Far Racing Services provided the timing chips for the 5K and 10K events.
Coordinator of total rewards wellness Barbara Hester said the event had some bumps in the beginning but turned out to be an improvement compared with last year’s 668 participants.
“We had some problems with the startup in the morning, and the time clock wasn’t working properly,” she said. “But our purpose was for people to have fun, and so far I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback from participants.”
