Young Runners Hot on Concept of a Race Where They Are Stars

There was a biting chill in the air at Mission Bay Park Saturday morning. The bay was smooth, as if it were frozen.

The temperature had dipped into the low 30s overnight and didn’t seem much warmer at 8 a.m., but approximately 4,000 people were there to participate in the fifth annual McClassic, which included a 4-mile walk, a 10-kilometer run and the 1-mile event for kids.

Kids? About a thousand of them. What cold? They came to run.

They were everywhere, buzzing around in shiny tights and flashy shoes, waiting for the start of their race. They were Saturday’s stars. Organizers hoped something for those 12 and under would be the drawing card for a family-oriented event and exemplify its purpose, to benefit the McDonald’s Big Kids for Little Kids, a non-profit child abuse prevention organization.

The contestants displayed their race bibs as if they were Olympic medals.

“Even though it’s only a mile, look at the faces on the kids here,” said Tony Gwynn, the Padre outfielder and the official starter. “They’re stretching out like the big guys, getting their legs loose, doing their little aerobic dances to get warmed up. It’s awesome, it really is. One of these kids will have a great time in the mile run. Probably run it faster than I could.”

In the past, the concentration of this event was on the 10K. Prize money was offered to lure name runners. But there was no purse this year.

“We’ve had some outstanding times for the finishes of the race,” said John Ryal, president of the San Diego McDonald’s Operators Assn. “But it really did not end up generating more money for the charity. Our thinking is to keep the money for the kids (rather) than reward somebody for coming out and running.”

Ryal said this year’s proceeds--between $20,000 and $25,000--were double the event’s best previous year.

Just to the left of where Ryal was talking, a little boy shyly nudged toward Gwynn.

“Hi, how ya doin’?” Gwynn asked. “Ready for this run?”

“Yeah,” mumbled the boy, who was no older than 8.

“You gonna make it?” Gwynn asked.

“Yeah.”

“You gonna win?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re gonna win it? All right! I’ll be looking for you. How fast you gonna run it? Five minutes? Six?”

“Six.”

“That’s faster than I can run it now. You’d beat me, easy.”

The boy smiled, got an autograph on his race number and headed toward the starting line, where a majority of the kids had already gathered.

Gwynn and Ronald McDonald stood in front of the crowd at the starting line, trying to organize the smaller ones to the front and urge the bigger ones not to stampede.

“Everybody ready to run today?” Gwynn asked.

“Yeah!” hollered the crowd.

“Please, when you start, be careful, don’t run over somebody’s back,” Gwynn said. “Some of the parents, too, when the kids take off, please be careful. Don’t jump out in the middle of the street and try to get a picture.”

Shane Mullen, a 12-year-old from Evans Elementary School in La Jolla, ran the flat course in 5 minutes 40 seconds, faster than what Gwynn said he could do. Gwynn would have been more amazed if he knew that Mullen earlier had been the first 12-year-old to finish the 10K, in 43:49. Mullen runs 4 miles every morning with his mother, Martha. Has since he was 7.

Janet Ramos, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Jose Maria La Roce school in Tijuana, was the first girl to finish (6:12) and fourth overall. She has been running since she was 6.

Some were winded, some pained. For others, it was no big thing.

“Great race,” a father asked his son at the finish. “Was it fun?”

The little boy shrugged.

“Did you hear your name called when you came across?”

The little boy wiped his brow and shrugged.

“Was it exciting when you went under the big banner (at the finish line)?”

The boy brushed his dark hair off his forehead, looked up at his father, smiled and nodded.