Crim: More Than A Race
Mark Yonan, Crim Fitness Foundation Board Chair, shared the history and evolution of the Crim with club members last week. The "Crim" started in 1977 at 12 noon as the Bobby Crim Road 10 Mile Race to benefit Special Olympics. Thirty-four years later, the Crim has transitioned into the Crim Fitness Foundation, an organization that still supports Special Olympics, but has evolved into the Crim Festival of Races (a series of races of all distances, for runners, walkers, wheelchair participants, children and families), and healthy living programs for children,adults and the community.
The Crim Youth Program impacts over 10,000 children annually in every elementary school in the City of Flint and over 30 elementary schools in Genesee County. The CrimFit Mileage Clubs is an in-school fitness program designed to motivate children to become more aerobically fit. It encourages children in grades K-6 to run and/or walk during recess, physical education class or during a classroom fitness break. Since 1994, the Crim Kids Classic (held in May each year on the Flint Cultural Center campus), offers fun for the entire family with races for infants (the "diaper dash") to children up to age 12 and includes free admission to Flint Cultural Center attractions.
There are also CrimFit Neighborhood Running Clubs, created by former State Representative Bob Emerson and former Board member Judy Samelson, which allow area children to train for the upcoming Crim Festival of Races. The Crim Kids Invitational is the culminating event for the CrimFit Neighborhood Running Clubs and attracts over 400 children, held the Friday night before the Crim Festival of Races (coming up this Friday, August 27 in downtown Flint).
The Crim's 15 week adult running and walking training program continues to be the largest training program of its kind in the USA. This year over 1500 individuals have taken to "the bricks" to prepare for one of the upcoming races on August 28th. Volunteer group leaders work with teams of 20-25 participants (in the 5k, 8k and 10 mile distances) to prepare them to complete either a running or walking event.
In keeping true to its mission of improving the health of Genesee County, the Crim Fitness Foundation recognized it must invest in creating livable, more active communties. The vision was realized upon creation of a partnership with the Michigan Fitness Foundation. Together, they created the Safe and Active Genesee for Everyone (SAGE) Coalition. This collaborative of multi-disciplinary stakeholders (over 20 organizations) has taken the lead in implementing initiatives that support and enable active and healthy lifestyles. To date SAGE has identified and helped coordinate improvements to the Flint River Trail; coordinated a trail signage system on all Genesee County trails; held the first "Trail Mix" event to promote and educate residents about the Flint River Trail; facilitated the involvement of three Flint elementary schools in the Safe Routes To School (SRTS) Program, a program that strives to create a safe, convenient and fun environment for children to walk and bike to school; and advocated to create more pedestrian and bicycle friendly communities through policy and environmental changes, especially Complete Streets policies.
Sunrise Rotarians will be out supporting the Crim and cheering on the participants this Saturday, August 28th at the 7 mile water station.
For more information about the Crim, visit www.crim.org. For a listing of upcoming race weekend activities for the whole family, visit http://www.crim.org/files/Race/2010RaceWeekSchedule.pdf.
See you on the bricks!