News & Stories

Anwatin Junior Loppet Team and their Families Take on the City Trails Loppet

A small, but dedicated crew of Anwatin Junior Loppet athletes had a great time at The 2017 Salomon City Trails Loppet! We had seven runners and some of their family members participating this year.

Teammates Victor and Nico were our returning competitors. For the other five kids, it was their first 10K! All of them ran the whole way (I think)!

Victor and Nico went out in the first wave of the 10K because they had time goals. They’ve been training hard this spring and have been getting out to one to two LNR practices per week, despite both being in the school musical this spring. Victor was hoping to finish in under 50 min and came in super close at 50:36. Nico came in just behind him at 54:08. Victor and Nico have made a lot of improvements since last year’s race when they finished at 58:23 and 58:26, respectively. They both felt good about their races, despite maybe not running as much as they’d like to have.

For the rest of the team, the day was a family affair! I invited parents to come out to run, and most of them took me up on it!

  • Eighth grader, David Prince ran with his dad Seth and he did very well, finishing at 1:02. They also had a contest to see who could get muddiest.
  • Emily came in next on our team at 1:11:26. Emily typically is not a very competitive athlete, so it was a fun surprise to see this side of her! Looks like we have a real runner on our hands! Emily’s older brother and Anwatin alum, Alex, ran as well. Both of their parents volunteer frequently at Loppet events and have been doing so since Alex began the program.
  • Sixth grader, Maria and her two parents, Patty Lee and Lori Fewer, all ran together! Patty and Lori are really involved in the Loppet and also enjoy skiing, so we’ve already roped them into several Age Gap Relays. Maria will be one of two female captains next year.
  • Sixth grader, Michele Nguyen (little sister to Anwatin alum Henri) wore her “lucky shorts” on race day and they must have worked, because she had a great time on the course! Michelle is going to be a captain next year.
  • Lola Hurckman and her mother Candace also ran together, and were holding hands when I saw them about a quarter mile from the finish.

We even had Amy and Ben Sonquist, parents of three past and present Anwatin alumni boys – Isaac, Jackson and Kellen – run the 10 mile! Their son Kellen is a current 7th grader and a captain next year for the team. He has been dedicated to baseball this spring and didn’t quite feel prepared for the running event. Ben also works at Anwatin and helps coach frequently in the winter.

After the run, some went home to change and get dry. The rest of us went to our traditional post-City Trails treat: Sebastian Joe’s ice cream! It turns out we are often cold and wet when our team goes for ice cream, so it was pretty fitting.

All in all it was a successful experience that the team is proud of. For many of them, the City Trails Loppet is a benchmark of what they know they can do. I often hear kids year-round at practice saying “how long is this compared to City Trails?” And then if they know they can run six miles, so they’ll judge their perception of the current distance on that.