“No high fives!” shouted a 7-year-old runner as he crossed the finish line. “This is serious!”

To some, the Marion Mile is much more than a race. It was started in 2002 by Chris Adams, the cross country and track coach at Tabor Academy, and has been a growing success for 14 years.

“I started the Marion mile when my son was eight-years-old. The local 5K was too hard on his legs because he was still so young. I wanted to give him and other kids his age the opportunity to race for fun without putting too much stress on their legs,” said Adams.

The Marion mile is, as its name implies, a one-mile long fun run on Tabor Academy’s campus fields. The inaugural race was made up of six kids, but grew to 20 as the summer progressed.

Only half way through this summer, the program saw 200 kids between the ages of 2 and 14 cross the finish line on the most recent Tuesday evening run. Adams hopes that this number will continue to grow as the program stretches through the summer.

Sarah Adams, a senior at Tabor Academy, has participated in the Marion Mile since she was 4.

“My dad organized it, so I guess I didn’t really have a choice,” she joked. “I’ve been doing it ever since I could remember. I ran every year until I was too old, so now I just help out.”

The race wouldn’t be possible without its many student volunteers. Most of their Tuesday nights are spent handing out ribbons, documenting times, keeping kids in line in the chute, or even running alongside the participants. It’s their efforts that make the race the success that it is.

“We [the student volunteers] don’t get community service hours for it, but I don’t mind. It’s fun and the kids are cute,” said Sarah.

The race is funded by Wareham Pediatrics and friends of Marion Recreation. Participants are given free T-shirts and participation ribbons, and trophies are awarded to the winners. Gatorade and water are also provided every week.

A parent of one young runner told the story of how participating in the mile affected the eating habits of her two sons. Apparently, her 10-year-old stopped eating chips because he was frustrated with his younger brother for always beating him by 10 seconds.

“That’s my favorite story about the mile, it’s exactly why I do this year after year. This is the type of impact that we [Wareham Pediatrics and Marion Recreation] want to have,” said Chris Adams.

And after 14 years, the mile continues to foster a competitive spirit among its young participants.

“Next week I’m going to run so much faster than I did this week. I counted and there was only twelve boys ahead of me this week, which is two less than last week," said one 6-year-old girl.

“I only want to beat the boys because they tease the girls for being slow. We’re not slow, we just don’t like sweating and smelling bad. We just want to have fun while running.”