Overcoming a glitch on the run

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- Since its inception four years ago, Leslie Boler has

run in the Kids Klassic races at the annual Harbor Heritage Run.

She was planning on running in it again until she was told that as an

11-year-old in the sixth grade at Mariners Elementary School, she was too

old to run.

The Kids Klassic, meant for elementary schoolchildren who eventually

will go to Newport Harbor High, consists of two races.

The first is for 5- to 7-year-old children who run a quarter-mile lap

around Newport Harbor’s field. The second is for 8- to 10-year-old

students who run two laps, or a half-mile.

Race creators failed to realize four years ago that sixth-grade

students are often 11 and 12 years old. It was a snafu in the system that

no one noticed until a frustrated Leslie put her hands on her hips and

said, “No fair.”

“It was fun and I liked doing it,” Leslie said.

She didn’t get her way, but she also won’t be left out.

This year, Leslie will leave the track and the Kids Klassic and hit

the streets with the adults today.

Leslie plans to run the full two kilometers and she’s even managed to

rope a few classmates into joining her.

“I’ve got like five friends to do it with me,” she said, adding that

it was difficult to coerce a few of them. A tomboy through and through,

Leslie’s favorite pastimes are playing soccer and climbing the huge tree

in her backyard.

Her favorite subject in school is physical education.

Although the children’s entry fees bring in a only a couple hundred of

the $25,000 to $30,000 the Heritage Run raises annually, it is one of the

elements that makes it a true community event, said Heritage Run co-chair

Connie Cherry.

“It’s more to get them used to it for when they’re in Ensign

Intermediate and Newport Harbor High School,” agreed Harbor Council PTA

president Lisa Boler.

Cherry, who organized the inaugural Kids Klassic, laughed about the

situation and said they’d just have to tweak the system.

The warmup for the race begins at 7:30 a.m. today at the high school,

600 Irvine Ave. The 2K starts at 8 a.m., and the 5K starts at 8:30 a.m.

The first Kids Klassic race begins at 9:15 a.m. for the 5- to

7-year-olds; the second starts at 9:30 a.m. The fitness fair runs from

7:30 to 10 a.m.