Hundreds of Philly students with mentorship running program lace up for Broad Street Run — the group’s 20th year

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — While dozens of teens squeeze in some last-minute training miles to hit their goal during this weekend’s Broad Street Run, their running club has already reached a milestone: Students Run Philly Style , a youth mentorship long-distance running nonprofit, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with runners in Sunday’s annual 10-miler.

More than 700 middle and high school students from 50 schools throughout the city will lace up for the Broad Street Run with the program. It pairs adult mentors with kids, but it is more than just a running club. The goal is to set the kids on a path to success, on and off the track.

“What’s fantastic about this program is that it helps you build a relationship with those teachers,” said 17-year-old Miles Hall, an 11th-grader at Science Leadership Academy in Fairmount. “In other schools that might be a little bit larger, alumni come back and run with students, so you get to have that relationship build between students and between the mentors — and that can do anything from be your letter of recommendation for college, it can be somebody who connects you with a job.”

Runners from Science Leadership Academy have been training for months. Jeremy Spry, project coordinator at the high school, agrees with Hall’s outlook.

“When you are out here doing the long runs, especially preparing for the Broad Street Run, these kids have run seven, eight, nine miles week after week after week in preparation for this Sunday. You really get to know somebody,” Spry said. “It’s a very human thing to say, ‘This is hard for you too? This is hard for me.’ So you really get to share a lot of moments.”

Students Run Philly Style is the largest group participating in the Broad Street Run — the country’s largest 10-mile race. Hall has been long-distance running in the program on and off for six years.

He offered encouragement to his fellow runners: “No one else is comparing themselves to you, so don’t compare yourself to anybody else. Just try to do your best and remember that you are with 40,000 other people that are also trying to do their best. There is some comfort in that.”