2010 WELS Kids Marathon Update #3

Hi Kids and Parents! How is your summer going? It has been quite hot this summer, hasn’t it? Make sure you are drinking plenty of water when you are our exercising and running. And a nice cool glass of ice water goes great with a good book!

Running has become very popular again in the USA. Each of the past years, there are more and more marathon finishers from the US. I was signing up for a marathon taking place this fall on Sunday morning and the race filled to capacity in ONLY 32 minutes. Sounds like a concert, not a marathon. Marathoning is a popular sport now and you are all apart of it. I can’t wait to see all of you cross the finish line on August 28th and get that coveted finishers medal around your neck.

Here are a few statistics about who is in this years WELS Kids Marathon. We have 395 participants, just over double what we had last year. Here is the grade breakdown with the grade you all are going into:
K – 15
1st – 25
2nd – 51
3rd – 57
4th – 71
5th – 55
6th – 52
7th – 41
8th – 25
Other – 3
Looks like the 4th graders are going to be everywhere.
There are also kids from 33 different school!

Ultimate Challenge

Are you trying to become an Ultimate Challenge Marathoner? These are the kids who are running 52 miles and reading 52 books or 52 hours. Please email us at welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com if you are trying to get the Ultimate Challenge done. We have a little something for you but we need to know how many of you are doing it.

TV Report

I heard from someone that the WELS Kids Marathon was mentioned on TV recently. Have any of you heard this? If so, please let me know about it. I would love to hear all about it.

Can’t make the Final Event

We know that some of you can’t make the final event on August 28th. This does not mean you can’t still finish the WELS Kids Marathon. Please complete all your miles and reading and you will still be a WELS Kids Marathon Finisher. In an effort to save on postage, please email us so we can send your goodie bag with shirt and finishers medal with your school’s representative. They can take it to your school for you to get once school begins. We appreciate your cooperation with this.

Sponsors

We could not do this marathon without the support of all our great sponsors including our latest sponsor Dupont Cheese – Marion. One of the original sponsors and great supporter of the WELS Kids Marathon in Slingstone Products:

Slingstone Products LLC is the Wisconsin distributor for Nicoat UV and water base coatings, as well as the complete line of printing blankets, parts and supplies from Rosmini Graphics. Based in Muskego, Slingstone provides sales and technical support to offset, flexo, and screen printers. The company name reflects the faith in God that owners Mark and Lori Schommer have used as a daily source of inspiration. The bible refers to the smooth stone that David used to slay Goliath as a "slingstone". David knew that God was with him as he fought Goliath just as the owners of Slingstone Products know that Gods presence is an important part of their success in business today. Congratulations to all runners and readers….. see you at the finish line! http://www.slingstoneproducts.com/



Also, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has helped us our tremendously. “Nearly 3 million members turn to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to help meet their financial needs. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans offers a wide range of competitive products and personal service. We are committed to serving Lutheran families, communities and congregations. Proud sponsor of the WELS Kids Marathon.”
Southeast Wisconsin Region
20800 Swenson Dr. Ste 175
Waukesha, WI 53186
262-432-6280

Volunteers

We are still looking for a lot of volunteers for the final event on August 28th. If you are available to help out, please mail us at welskidsmarathon@yahoo.com. All the work is very easy and most allow you to be able to be there when your child is running the final mile. We are in need of the following:
Course Marshall's to keep the kids safe
Food Prep Set Up
Registration/Packet Pickup Table
Clean Up Committee
Medal Hand Out

Website

There is a website (http://kidsmarathon.blogspot.com/) with all the information you may need concerning the 2010 WELS Kids Marathon. Some sections you will find on the website include: Frequently asked questions, directions to the Final Event, course map, sponsor links, updates, etc. Please feel free to leave us a comment on the site as well.

Final Event

A friendly reminder that the final event begins at 9:00AM and we ask that all participants arrive no later than 9:30 as we anticipate large lines to get through the packet pick up tables. We are planning a system to make this process smooth but we also have almost 400 participants that need to get there goodie bags.

Thank you,

WELS Kids Marathon Organizing Committee
Bill Schneider – WELS Kids Marathon Director

WELS Kids Marathon Committee:
David Habben
Belinda Matter
Gwen Scherf
Sally Schneider
Greg Uehling