On Saturday, April 18, the Los Altos Athletic League (LAAL) and ASB organized and hosted the first Color Run, held on the school campus. The event served as a replacement for Sprint For Sports, an annual walkathon-like fundraiser for the athletics department.
“Every year there are thousands of dollars of league fees and referee fees that the individual sports don’t pay for, but rather the athletic department pays for,” ASB Color Run commissioner senior Dylan Zorn said.
Due to consistent unpopularity, ASB and LAAL worked in conjunction to brainstorm a new idea that would both bring in profits and student participation.
With a professional DJ and colored checkpoints throughout the day, the 5-kilometer Color Run was divided into two events: an open community run and a high school run. The community run culminated in a small festival on the campus quad, including a bouncy house, obstacle course of mini-bike races, balloon toss and long jump. Though it was only the first year of the Color Run, 437 people in total had signed up for the event.
“There was a lot of participation from the community, and a lot more people came than we expected,” Dylan said.
In addition to participants, which included all LAHS student-athletes, there were many volunteers from National Honor Society and Interact club members. The event was also made possible with the financial help of local businesses like Whole Foods. Other instances of school participation came from the Culinary Class, which handmade around 25 pounds of each colored powder.
While the initial goal was to raise $7,000 to $8,000, the color run ended up raising over $12,500, with around $4,000 coming solely from individual donations.
“We had numerous adults and families coming up to us after the event and saying how badly they wanted to return next year because they had a lot of fun,” Dylan said.
Whether ASB and LAAL plan to make changes or keep the event exactly the same, the Color Run will surely continue to be a successful source of revenue for the athletics department.
