“Igniting the potential of the youth” with Ignite 5K
By Jazmine Knight
Big Brothers Big Sisters hosted their second annual Ignite 5k race.
Contestants gathered on Southwest Parkway to prepare for the start of the race. Runner’s traveled northeast towards the St. Joseph Rec Center and into Bartlett Park before turning around and finishing across from Bode ice Arena.
People of all kinds came together to beat personal records, support a good cause and enjoy the nice morning weather.
Top finishers, Tabor Bigham and Steve Mirarchi, said the race was pretty fun.
“I think I did okay for earlier in the season. Had some good competition,” said Bignham.
Mirarchi says he stayed close to Bignham during majority of the race but Bigham just slipped out of his grasp. However, the warm weather still made him finish faster than expected.
“We had to be careful. But when it’s hot, it spurs you to finish more quickly,” Mirarchi said.
All proceeds earned from the Ignite 5k supports igniting the potential of the youth in our community.
Mirarchi says he has a friend that works for Big Brothers Big Sisters that invited him to the race. He was thrilled to support such a great cause.
“To be a parent in a time when I think parenting is recovering a little bit,” he said. “I’m happy that we’re able to help those who need good parenting.”
Bigham runs high school cross country and runs about five or six days a week. Mirarchi just got into running in his forties and now trains for marathons. Bigham enjoys running because it’s individual.
“I don’t have to worry about other people,” he said.
Mirarchi enjoys running events like Ignite because he uses other people to challenge him.
“It’s always fun to test my speed against the younger whippersnappers and still get beat by them,” he said.
Both men would highly recommend the Ignite 5k to others.
“The past two years since I’ve been here it’s a great family atmosphere. Everybody here is united in a cause for something good and we have a good level of competition,” Mirarchi said.
