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<\/a>Perhaps it was the chance to do some good, or maybe just the opportunity to earn a first medal, but Creeds saw a massive jump in runners for this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
Last year, the school had just six runners participate. This year, that number increased 13 times over. It\u2019s an impressive feat considering Creeds, as an entire school, has a total of right around 300 students.<\/p>\n
Robin Davenport, principal of Creeds Elementary, said the coolest part of the experience came on race day as he watched dozens of his students take to the start line in their matching, camoflouge t-shirts, then take off together.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was nice,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cOur t-shirts stood out (in the crowd of runners). It was such a neat thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Participation in the annual race is not a new trend. For years, Virginia Beach students have come out in full force to take part in the Final Mile.<\/p>\n This year was no exception.<\/p>\n Three Oaks Elementary led the way with the highest number of students participate (301 students) as well as having the highest percentage of combined Final Mile\/8k participation among Virginia Beach elementary schools (47.6 percent).<\/p>\n For Three Oaks, running in the Final Mile has become something of a school tradition. Again, staff there say it\u2019s the work of the whole building that made this year such a success.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole school truly gets behind it,\u201d said Nicholas Jensen, physical education teacher at Three Oaks Elementary. \u201cThat\u2019s really what our success is from. We have a set of teachers run with kids after school\u2026It\u2019s an amazing thing to see when all the faculty and all the staff and the community gets involved in a fitness program.\u201d<\/p>\n To see how Creeds, Three Oaks, Alanton, and many other schools got ready for and took part in this year’s race, visit our Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cWe had a lot of help. Everyone gave a little something to the cause,\u201d Chris Lille, physical education teacher at Creeds Elementary said. \u201cThe students really got behind it and the excitement just snowballed…(it) has already inspired other students that didn\u2019t sign up this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>According to J&A Racing, the company in charge of the Shamrock races, 4,628 registrants representing 277 schools from all over Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region participated in this year\u2019s race.\u00a0 3,446 of those students – 74.46 percent – were from Virginia Beach City Public Schools.\u00a0Not to mention, 50 of the 56 Virginia Beach elementary schools had at least three students participate.<\/p>\n