ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Nineteen years ago, Evin Haukos was a preteen, helping his mom execute the first Earth Day Half-Marathon in St. Cloud.
Now, he’s the one making it happen.
Each year, the event draws 10,000 people to the St. Cloud area, promoting health and wellness, environmentally-friendly practices and family fun at the same time.
Both mother and son work in health and fitness. Chris Haukos is the coordinator of fitness programs at St. Cloud State University. Evin is the community wellness events specialist for the CentraCare Health Foundation, which now owns the annual Earth Day Run event.
The St. Cloud Times reports that half-marathons and 5Ks are familiar places for both. Evin spent summers driving around with Chris as she ran in events across the state. When she started the St. Cloud Earth Day run, he was “volunteered” to help out.
Now it’s her turn.
“I remember when we started it. It was like … in 20 to 25 years, we’ll be bigger,” Chris said. “That went by faster than I expected.”
Chris moved to St. Cloud in the 1990s as a graduate student. An avid runner, she noticed there weren’t any big events held in St. Cloud. So she decided to create one.
Earth Day fell during a lull in the rounds of local events, and would be a good target race for runners preparing for the Grandma’s Marathon in in Duluth in June.
She found community partners to help in planning, including local running groups and the St. Cloud Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as students and groups from St. Cloud State University.
“When we created the event, we wanted it to be not just a St. Cloud State event. We wanted it to be a community partner event. … That’s what it has become,” Chris said. “It brings a lot of different people to the table, and they network and they work together to develop these healthy programs together.”
She’s excited to see how much the community now gets involved, “when in the beginning, it wasn’t as easy. You had to talk them into it,” Chris said.
Chris planned the run for nine years, before handing it over other organizers.
Evin was put in charge of the 2017 run - in January, three months before the event.
“I got thrown in it,” he said. “It was chaos and people came out of the woodwork, saying, ’Oh, you’re Chris’s son. … I’ll help you.’ … It’s a lot smoother now that I know the faces and the people.”
It was a challenge at first.
“But I found out pretty quickly that this is something that’s in my skill set,” he said. “It really comes down to being resourceful … the people that you know.”
Another advantage is the connection with the CentraCare Health Foundation. Funds raised by the event are used for BLEND, a local health group that works to reduce childhood obesity in Central Minnesota.
“We can have this health and wellness push. We can focus on the green aspect of everything. And in turn, we have these funds to put right back in the community,” Evin said.
That first year, about 600 runners participated, Chris said. Two-thirds ran in the half-marathon, with the rest running the 5K. The 1K event would come a few years later. Organizers were helped by a couple hundred volunteers.
“Every year, our goal was to increase numbers and then add something new to the program,” Chris said.
Today, Evin says about 5,000 runners will participate in various events, with about 10,000 going through the events.
It takes 500 to 600 volunteers to make the event happen, some of which are organized by local teams, nonprofits and businesses.
That includes the St. Cloud State University swim team, which helps with the courses. Volunteers from Capital One help manage the kids’ 1K race, bringing about 120 volunteers alone, Evin said.
About 40 to 50 vendors participate in addition to major sponsors CentraCare Health and Scheels, he said. CentraCare offers hands-on activities, including cooking classes.
Scheels has a big footprint, too.
“They bring the store down,” Evin said. “I hear a lot of people just wait throughout the year because Scheels offers such kickin’ discounts.”
One major change? The technology.
“We needed a lot more people working at the finish line,” Chris said about early runs. “Because we did it manually instead of with the chips.”
From the start, organizers offered a purse to winners, to draw in good runners. They also kept the entry fee reasonable, so it would remain family-friendly.
The Earth Day connection happened by chance, but organizers have taken the opportunity.
“I was really passionate about bringing awareness for Earth Day,” Chris said. “Over the years, Evin’s really grown the earth component.”
One major effort is collecting recycling and compost.
“We do a surprising amount of compost,” Evin said. “With a lot of the cups that we use, you think it would just be a waste if a runner comes by and takes a drink. All of those things actually go right into growing more food.”
Race T-shirts and hoodies are made by Greenlayer, a Portland, Oregon, clothing company that offers environmentally friendly and sustainable products. The race bibs are also recyclable.
They also work with the Rocori schools environmental club, to recycle old shoes.
“St. Cloud is really proud of this event,” Evin said. “People know. They’re like ’Hey, are you runnin’ Earth Day? You runnin’ Earth Day?’ That means something.”
Chris agreed.
“We started out and we just tried to do everything as best as we could,” Chris said. “Now it’s really a big family event that people look forward to every year.”
Evin gave a lot of credit to his mom’s work.
“It’s easy … when the base was there,” he said. “People had expectations that this is how this event is. … It gets better over time, little by little, as long as you have that strong base.”
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Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com
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