Lots of color was the order of the day Saturday as 150 adults and children participated in the Color Run, a 5K fundraiser benefiting the Ocracoke School PTA.
In this event, runners get sprayed with colored water along the route and then doused in powdered color when they cross the finish line.
“I thought it was a fun way to do something different at the start of school,” said Susan O’Neal, a teacher who was organizing the runners. “They do this all over the country. One hundred and fifty is good for the first year.”
PTA president Ivey Belch spearheaded the event that was not a timed event, just a fun run.
Participating students paid $25, pre-registered adults $30, and day-of adult racers $40.
Nonetheless, youth and adult winners of the WOVV 5K/10K in April were the first to cross the finish line.
Kevin Perez, an Ocracoke School senior who was the winner of the 5K, was first with Alfonso “Chito” Guerrero, second-place winner of the 10K, close behind. Gustavo Trejo came in third.
The runners started at Ocracoke School, up Irvin Garrish Highway, down Middle Road, Jackson Circle, Sunset Drive, Back Road, British Cemetery Road, and the final stretch of Howard Street.
“It was fun,” said Ryan Mason of Raleigh. “I got a new tie-dyed T-shirt out of it. Everyone’s so bright and colorful.”
Although social studies teacher Gwen Austin didn’t run in the race and waited for all the runners to get back, she didn’t escape getting hit with a little of the powdered color by one of the students.
“How often do you get to squirt your principal and teachers with color?” she said.
