St. John’s University’s Student Government Inc. (SGi) hosted the first annual Johnny Trot, a 5K race and walk fundraiser at Belson Stadium on Nov. 24 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event drew more than 100 participants, with admission priced at $10 for St. John’s students and $15 for non-students. All proceeds from the fundraiser were donated to the New York Cancer Foundation to ease the financial burdens of cancer patients in New York State.

Daniel Sanchez, vice president of SGi, said the idea for the Johnny Trot came from his own experience participating in turkey trots. Inspired by the tradition of Thanksgiving-themed charity runs, SGi hoped to create an event that combined fitness and supporting the community..

“St. John’s is a Vincentian school, so we are big on giving back,” Sanchez said. “We had a lot of talks as a board over the summer about what we wanted to do. I run a turkey trot every year at home and I was like ‘Let’s do a Johnny Trot,’ and that’s really where it came from.”

Sanchez emphasized the importance of supporting the New York Cancer Foundation this year, alluding to failed attempts in the past.

“We were going to have the New York Cancer Foundation as one of our beneficiaries last year for one of our charity events, but we couldn’t make it happen,” he said. “We really wanted to make sure we could promote the foundation and give back. It’s such a good cause that we want to support.”

The 5K race and walk took participants along the University’s on-campus fitness trail. Runners and walkers were required to complete the trail twice before crossing the finish line.

Conor Curran, a senior finance major, was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 22:38. He shared his thoughts on the event after completing the race.

“It was a nice pacer, the first lap showed us the whole trail, which was very nice,” Curran said. “It was a truly great atmosphere. Anytime you would pass someone they would cheer you on, pushing you to go faster.”

Victoria Krivitskiy, a sophomore government and politics major, participated in the race with a partner, helping her find extra motivation on the way. 

“I ran with a partner, so that was really nice,” Krivitskiy said. “She motivated me when I felt like I was going to give up. It was a great experience, I always like participating in things that have to do with charity.”

After completing the 5K, participants used their provided food vouchers at food trucks stationed near the finish line. Present at the event were food trucks including Cheesy Pete’s, The Hub and Meatoss Street Grill. Outdoor games like corn-hole and spike ball were also available for attendees to play after the race.

Sanchez expressed his excitement about the turnout, noting SGi’s desire to make it an annual occurrence.

“When we were planning this, we said that if we had 25-50 people, we would be so happy,”  Sanchez said. “Just looking at the crowd of people here, this is awesome. We are really happy with it and hope that we can continue this every single year.”