Superhero 5K and Kids’ run attracts those near and far
Aug 30, 2017 12:08PM ● By Jana Klopsch
This year is the second year for South Jordan’s Superhero Kid’s Run but only the first year city officials have added a 5k in the city’s race series. (Jessica Parcell/My City Journals)
What started as a fun run for kids has grown into a 5k race for the whole community.
Brad Vaske, South Jordan program coordinator, said the Superhero run has been going for a couple years, but this is the first year city leaders decided to add a 5k.
“This was always kind of geared toward more like a fun run, so it was kind of incorporated as a costume event—wear a superhero costume and just do a fun little community-type run,” Vaske said.
The 5k is part of the city’s 2017 race series, coming in at the tail end of a number of races the city started planning in November 2016.
“For kids’ runs, we’d rather anywhere from 50 to 100 kids run in an actual kids’ run,” Vaske said. “Then 5ks and stuff like that—we’ll get anywhere from 150 to over 350 runners.”
The efforts of city leaders not only brought the community together but brought family together as well.
“My wife found it online and thought it’d be fun to run it as a family,” said 5k participant Jared Harris.
Harris said while he is not an avid runner himself, he thought it would be a fun family activity to do together. Pushing their little one in a stroller, Mr. and Mrs. Superman sped through the start side-by-side.
While the race was for community participation, it also attracted the attention of those new to the streets of South Jordan. Kristiina Choren, native to Estonia, said she and her husband traveled out to Utah to check out the mountains for winter skiing. She also wanted a reason to run while she was here.
“We are on vacation in Utah, and I am a runner, and I was looking for a race here,” Choren said. “And this was the only race I could find. So, that’s how I decided to run it.”
She has been a runner for the past six years. Outfitted as Wonder Woman, the Estonian said her inspiration for the costume came from her husband’s affections.
“That’s what my husband calls me,” Choren said. “He says that I am a wonder woman.”
The 5k—along with the other 5k and 10k races in the series—lead up to the city’s marathon at the end of the year.
