“May the force be with you," is something runners heard while crossing the finish line Sunday morning at the Challenger Learning Center’s Space Race 5K and 2K walk. The 3rd annual race brought together Star Wars characters and 5K enthusiasts to raise funds for Challenger's programs.
The Challenger Learning Center, located behind the Purdue Calumet Campus in Hammond, is a non-profit organization that educates K-12 students about math, science, technology, engineering and all things space. It is one of 40-some centers around the country dedicated to the astronauts who lost their life during the Challenger disaster back in 1986. The center relies on generous donations from the community to keep the education programs up and running. Two large fundraisers are put on by the center each year to keep the programs available to schools, and the Space Race is one of them.
"With this 5K we really want to get families out here to promote fitness and togetherness - but also to get our name out there,” explained Becca Manis, Director of the Challenger Learning Center. “We don’t get a lot of big groups of adults out here, besides buses full of school children. It’s really exciting to see everyone come out here and support what we’re doing."
Besides the race, the center also hosts a Family Science Night, which invites the school with the largest amount of Space Race participants to visit the center with their families. That school will experience many hands activities the center provides, which includes a high balloon altitude launch sponsored by Horseshoe Casino.
The race itself could not have been started without Hometown Happenings President Tim Fealy. Fealy said that the idea for a race started when he decided that having a 5K would be a good way to get the community together in order to help the center.
"It was a few years back when I got the idea to host this run for them to gather funds to keep the center here in Northwest Indiana. Our focus really is to introduce kids to this program because it’s such a great one to have here.” The turnout for the race seemed to confirm Fealy’s hopes. With the race in it’s third year the sky is definitely not the limit. “This year is big for us, and it keeps growing every year," Fealy explained. The 5K and 2K walk itself makes a trip around the center and down the adjacent street. The course is flat easy to navigate, which makes the runners happy. Allie Smith, a Crown Point resident who placed first in her age division, said that the run couldn't of been better.
"The course was really nice because it was flat without problems. I’m going to definitely do it next year,” she said. When all of the runners made the final stretch towards the finish line, family and friends greeted them, volunteers cheered them on, and Darth Vader himself gave them each a thumbs up. From there, the runners were welcome to snacks and refreshments before awards were handed out to winners and first time 5K-ers, which were signed by local astronaut Jerry Ross. The 501st Legion of The Northern Darkness Garrison were also on hand dressed as Star Wars characters to take pictures with the attendees. The Challenger Learning Center also offered their participants to a free laser show and and space simulator tours after the race was finished.
The force was definitely with the runners of the Space Race 5K. It’s only up from here for the when Space Race will be a great tradition in the years to come as it takes it’s runners to infinity and beyond.