Runners had the opportunity to participate in a local Winter 5k run held at The Master’s University on the morning of Jan. 13. The race encouraged 300 runners from all corners of Santa Clarita to start their year off on the right foot.
Since 2011, The Master’s University 5k run has been popular among runners of Santa Clarita. Zach Schroeder, the event organizer and head coach of the Men’s and Woman’s Cross Country team, gave insight on why the Winter 5k was created. “Within the running community, we’ve slowly lost events. There’s a number of 5k’s and 10k’s that have slowly disappeared from the valley” Schroeder explain. “So, we felt like we needed a 5k [since] there was really nothing in the month of January or even the start of the year. This was just one of those events we felt like would be a good gift for the valley.”
Before the race started at 9am., runners arrived hours earlier to pick up their race number, time chip and T-shirt. Afterwards, competitors headed to the athletic field where the start line was located. From practice laps to lunges, participants prepared for the run in many different ways. Event MC Zach Garey shared his warm up routine before any race, ”Here on the Master’s Cross Country team, we’ll typically do 20 minutes of just running before a race. So, 20 minutes of running and then we’ll do drills. We do A-skips, B-skips, karaokes, high knees and [stretches on the] ground and then we finish with eight strides.”
The event had many sponsors, such as Chick-fil-A, Jersey Mikes, Presto Pasta, Courtyard Marriott and Hampton by Hilton.
One booth at the event was Elevo, a company focused on “partner[ing] with school districts to offer social [and] emotional learning through fun and physically engaging activities,” Liz Spear, a talent sourcer at Elevo said. Elevo was represented at the event to garner awareness to their brand as well as find mentors. Spear said, “We hire year-round and we have a constant need for coaches. We’re just really happy to have the opportunity to spread awareness about what we do and try and get some leads for potential coaches.”
Starting at Pete Reese Field, runners took off north towards Quigley Canyon Road in a counter-clockwise loop. At the final 800 meters, participants retraced their steps around Pete Reese and The MacArthur Center to end back on the field.
The awards were divided among gender and age groups, with the best overall time for this year’s run being 15 minutes and 59 seconds, achieved by Sebastian Peraza. Annika Mark, finishing at a time of 19 minutes and seven seconds, won first place for women’s overall. Both Peraza and Mark are students from Saugus high school.
Running for over 11 years, runner Wanetta Roetcisoender attended this year’s Winter 5k with her fellow High Desert Runners, a running group in Antelope Valley. She added, “We have a great running community up there so it’s fun… you think running is a solo activity but it’s really not when you get involved with a club.” Regarding her performance, she explained, “I was happy with [my time]. I didn’t think I’d come in under 30 minutes.”
All in all, this year’s 2024 Winter 5k was another success for both Master’s University and our thriving community here in Santa Clarita.
