Stuyvesant Holds Fifth Annual International Women’s Day Run

A combined total of 650 students ran along the pier during this year’s International Women’s Day Run on March 11 and March 12. The event’s third day, March 13, was cancelled, along with all other after school activities scheduled for that afternoon, due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Women’s Day Run is an annual event that began five years ago in 2016. This year, it was organized by a committee of four students on the girls’ track team: senior and president Liza Reizis and juniors Caroline Ji, Chloe Terestchenko, and Julianne Yotov. “We wanted [the event] to be something that everyone bonds over, while also celebrating all the women at Stuy and just in our lives,” Reizis said.

The community aspect was a big part of the International Women’s Day Run, as it brought students and faculty together to support International Women’s Day. “I went with a couple of new friends that I met, and it was fun getting to know them. I think that was really the highlight,” sophomore and participant Semoi Khan said.

The money raised from this year’s run went to the charity Womankind, “which helps women, primarily in Asian American families, deal with gender inequality and gender-based abuse,” Reizis said.

Many students were attracted to the idea of running and contributing to such an important cause. “The idea of being able to support the cause (of celebrating women achievement) and there being a T-shirt for something as simple as just running a mile or two really drew me in,” sophomore Sanjiv Jewram, who had planned to participate on March 13, said in an e-mail interview.

The 2020 International Women’s Day Run Committee started planning the event in August 2019. “We started reaching out to people in the summer, and each person [on the committee] reached out to five different companies and asked if they’d be interested in sponsoring us […] we also started reaching out to teachers who would be willing to give extra credit really early,” Terestchenko said. Several sponsors also had previous relations with the event and were able to continue them this year. The event was announced to students through several platforms, including Facebook, e-mail, and a website put together by the committee.

This year, for the first time, the International Women’s Day Run Committee visited the United Nations Delegations of Women’s Club, which became one of the largest sponsors for the run. Physical education teacher and run supervisor Dr. Anna Markova reached out to the group’s president, Andrea Mlynarova, who was interested in helping support the event. The committee went to the club’s headquarters, where members of the club gave a presentation. Afterward, members of the committee were able to talk to members of the club, allowing committee members to talk about the upcoming run. “As feedback, many of the women said that they were impressed by our event and how well rounded our school is,” Dr. Markova said. “We hope that there will be an established relationship between Stuyvesant and the United Nations Delegations of Women’s Club and there will be ongoing collaboration between them and our school.”

The International Women’s Day Run saw other changes: while T-shirts have only cost $1 in previous years, this year the committee charged $2, though a $5 donation was suggested and encouraged to support Womankind. “The price of shirts went up, but it helped us make a profit, and I think a price of $2 is fine for a shirt,” Terestchenko said. This year’s T-shirt was designed by Japanese street artist Shiro, who also painted the murals on the fifth floor and the walls of the spin room. “[Shiro] is now in Belgium doing an event for women, as she is a big supporter of women’s rights and equality,” Dr. Markova said.

Another new element of this year’s run was the Mary Cain Mile. This race was offered as an option for runners interested in a timed and competitive one mile race. All racers received bibs, and winners received prizes from sponsors. “I just wanted the opportunity to be able to compete against other people and especially people who probably had an interest in running as reflected by their desire to take part in a running competition,” junior and Mary Cain Mile participant Jonathan Xu said.

The race is named after Mary Cain, the youngest American athlete to ever compete at the World Athletics Championships. She was recruited for the Nike Oregon project and trained with professional coaches at Nike. More recently, however, she has spoken out against her coach, Alberto Salazar, whose abuse caused Cain to become chronically ill and contemplate suicide. The new event aimed to draw attention to the physical and mental abuse many athletes like Cain endure, yet cannot speak out against, as doing so would put their careers at risk.

For the 600 or so students who didn’t participate in the Mary Cain Mile on Wednesday, there were options of completing a one or two mile walk or run. Sponsors provided free snacks and chapstick as rewards for completing the walk/run, and there were balloons and a photo booth. Multiple teachers offered extra credit for participation, which was a popular incentive for students.

The event ran successfully for two days, but the third day, March 13 was cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns. Fortunately, the Mary Cain Mile, which had originally been planned for March 13, was moved to March 11 due to poor weather predictions for Friday. Had the run been held on Friday however, the overall turnout and funds raised “could have definitely been better maybe if the coronavirus wasn’t so prevalent,” Reizis said.

Many of the students who had signed up to run on March 13 were no longer able to participate. “I was disappointed. It was understandable, yet I was looking forward to the run, and it was a downer to hear than an event with that kind of impact would be shut down,” Jewram said.

Sophomore Nora Archer agreed, “It was sad because I didn’t get the chance to do it, and I know they didn’t get to raise as much money as they would have liked to.”

The COVID-19 situation impacted the event in other ways. A number of students were concerned about the virus and decided not to participate at all this year. “I had a friend who was also going to do the run, but then his parents kept him home,” Archer said. Moreover, the prizes awarded to the winners of the Mary Cain Mile are still at school, unable to be retrieved and distributed as schools have closed.

Organizers, however, hope they will still be able to raise as much money as expected. “We have a link to a GoFundMe page that we’re trying to circulate around so that people who wanted to help our cause but didn’t get the chance to could still donate,” Reizis said. “Maybe if school resumes, we’ll be selling our shirts and food kind of in the future, or maybe we’ll be able to reschedule the whole run.”

Looking forward to next year, the committee is already planning ways to improve the run. “Next year, I think we are going to start implementing something to make sure students are actually doing the run, making it a reliable event for teachers to be giving credit for. We might [have] a ticket at the half-mile mark to ensure kids are actually doing the run and have to present their ticket for credit,” Terestchenko said.

The committee also plans to work on crowd control to make the sign-in process before the run more efficient for students. “I think we want to change up how we go about doing the extra credit sign-in, which is obviously super popular,” Reizis said.

They also aim to expand the Mary Cain mile, which was very successful, as well as the number of sponsorships and teachers giving extra credit. Finally, to improve organization and get more hands on deck, the committee would like to “have a bigger committee that’s more involved from the very start,” Reizis said.

Despite canceling Friday’s event, the run was still successful and enjoyable for participants, bringing in about $2,000 for Womankind so far. The committee was also able to “connect members of the community, where we would go on a run or walk for one or two miles, all while advocating for women’s rights and empowerment,” Dr. Markova said.

“I love seeing how the school comes together to support women and support the cause, and being on the board helped it make it all the more worth it,” Terestchenko said.