2024 Find Your Kind 5K & Youth Run

EventsNews

May 15

5th Annual BIO Girls Find Your Kind 5K & Youth Run

May 15th, 2024 was a smashing (or should we say splashing) success! Our BIO Girls, our volunteers, our runners, our team, and our entire community embraced the challenge of a rainy run for a good cause.

This year’s 5K was presented by BCBSND Caring Foundation. Truth be told? It may have been our best 5K & Youth Run to date. Rain included.

At BIO Girls, we talk a lot about attitude. We also teach girls that we aren’t in control of every situation that comes about, but we ARE in control of how we show up: our attitude and our actions are completely up to us. So in true BIO Girls fashion, these girls showed up on race day knowing they can do hard things with an attitude of gratitude.

But don’t take our word for it; see for yourself:

Here’s a little recap of what all went into this whirlwind of an hour that we call race day!

There were SO MANY helping hands that made this day possible. First up, we’d like to thank the volunteers and businesses who helped our team in the weeks leading up to the 5K! Packing race bags, creating our finish line rope, sorting & cleaning signage, volunteering at our race expo etc. We are so grateful!

Note: If you are personally interested or are interested for your business in helping next year, please fill out our event volunteer interest form and you will be notified of volunteering opportunities.

Fast forward to race day, we had extra hands in the morning helping with set-up. The Fargo Microsoft Campus so graciously donated their grounds for our 5K for the second year: and what a perfect venue it has been for us!

Our giant BIO Girls finish line pillars and PA system were powered by generators that were graciously lent to us by Premier Construction and Remodeling. Thank you!!

Our fantastic signage was donated by Sign Badgers. All of which held up perfectly even amidst the weather. We can’t say enough kind things about this team: both their craftsmanship and their character, as they were there bundled up and volunteering at the event, as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We opened up race festivities with a word from Amber Blomberg, Executive Director at BCBSND Caring Foundation, before welcoming Annabelle Maher to sing the national anthem.

This year we welcomed:

500 BIO Girls & Program Volunteers
325 Community 5K & Youth Runners
100 Event Volunteers
1,000(+) Community Cheerleaders

First up was our Youth Run presented by Edge Fitness! These littles tackled this run and did it with smiles a mile wide. Thanks for making our Youth Run possible, Edge!

Follow our littles, it was time for our 5K! The rain didn’t deter these community runners from showing up to support the BIO Girls mission.

Here’s what one runner had to say:

“It turned out to be a rainy day in the neighborhood, right up until race time. I arrived to pick up my race packet and could not believe all the people out on this rainy day that are participating in this event! I was teetering on do I run or not? As I looked around and saw all these little girls and their families all hyped up for this, I changed my mind and decided to run. If these girls were doing this in the rain, then I certainly could do it, too! So glad I did because it was one of the best 5Ks I have ever done!! The route was awesome. People lined the route here and there and were very supportive. I will definitely do this run again!!”

And last but certainly not least, our BIO Girls hit the race route!! Thanks to our 40+ volunteers along the route, there wasn’t a quiet stretch for our runners. Special shout out to SCHEELS for bringing a gigantic crew of 100 employees to cheer along the route. Electric!

Along the route, you may have also seen our friends at Legacy Plumbing, Bodyworks Physical Therapy, Vaaler Insurance, a Marsh & McLennan Agency, Gate City Bank, and SO many more! This truly made for such a memorable experience for all involved.

Upon the grand finish, our friends at Rural Psychiatry Associates helped us medal every soaked and smiling runner.

It was truly a fantastic event. An event that simply is not possible without our sponsors. We are so grateful for the outpouring of support we have gotten. This event helps fuel our program and the positive changes that it brings to so many girls. Thank you.

Until next year!

- The BIO Girls Team