5-km race gets students involved

A new event was introduced this year and was run entirely by students of UW-River Falls. The Bunny Hop was a five-kilometer race held at UWRF April 14.

The students in the physical education course, Sport Recreation and Fitness Management (P ED 450), organized the affair. The Bunny Hop teamed students with coordinators of the Health Fair to produce the event.

The Bunny Hop was advertised around campus through flyers and brochures that were posted in the various campus buildings.

"I decided to participate in the Bunny Hop because I saw a brochure for it and it looked like fun," student Sarah Knuth said.

A race some may be more familiar with is the annual Turkey Trot, which is put on by the same class during fall semester. This event was created due to the addition of a spring semester of the PED 450 class. It
was appropriately titled the Bunny Hop in conjunction with falling on a date close to Easter, class instructor Jeff Berkhof said.

"I wanted to give these students the same opportunity that the students in the fall got with the Turkey Trot," Berkhof said.

The event was targeted toward students but welcomed and encouraged anyone in the community to take part in the race.

"It's a great opportunity to get out and do something and exercise," Berkhof said.

The students from the class were broken up into different committees and were designated to coordinate different aspects of the event. Some were in charge of T-shirts, others registration and some students directed the actual event.

"It gets the students involved," director Scott Ramberg said.

There were over 40 students pre-registered to run in the race, and more showed up the day of the event to participate. Participants in the event also received a T-shirt for signing up.

"It's a good experience that involves the community as well as students," Ramberg said.

Participants paid a fee upon registration for the event. The proceeds went toward the purchase of the T-shirts distributed at the race. Any money remaining will go to Student Health Services and to the Turkey Trot in the fall.

"I will definitely wear my Bunny Hop shirt with pride," Knuth said.

Participants of the event said the race was both fun and well-organized by the students, but they would like to see more students and community members participating in the next one.

"The event was very fun, however, a little smaller than I thought it would be," Knuth said.

Though it was a race, all were welcome to participate and were able to walk or run at their leisure.

"I like to run. The event was, without a doubt, a fun time," student Anthony Orlando said.

The event was a success in terms of functionality and did its job in getting students and community members involved and active on campus.

Next year, the goal is to get more participants to come out and take part in the event as well as returning participants from this year's event.

"Maybe next year I can get a bigger group of friends to do it with me," Knuth said.