Marion Airport hosts Run the Runway

By Lauren Wuthrich, Grant Flora, Ellie Rinck and Matheus Lima

On Saturday morning, April 18, Marion Municipal Airport opened up the runway for a 5k race, raising awareness for the airport and money for student scholarships.
The race started at 9:30 a.m. when runners took off down the runway and looped around on their way back. Runners successfully crossed the finish line showing strong community spirit.
Despite the steady drizzle, the event organizers and runners maintained high energy for the race. A group of high school boys found the weather conditions added to the memorability of the event and would love to come back next year.
Andy Darlington, Marion airport manager, was excited about how the event attracted about 125 participants. The airport staff were thrilled to accommodate more participants than they had anticipated.
Conner McVay, a previous flight instructor and organizer of the event said, “we wanted 75 participants realistically, then we had 110 and it just kept going, we exceeded our expectations and were proud of the number.”
Family and friends of the runners gathered near the finish line, cheering the runners on as they crossed the finish line.
Community members not only ran but had the opportunity to connect with local vendors who came out to connect and sell products. Holy Donuts and Envy Nutrition were set up offering mini donuts and drinks for participants to partake in post-race.
Along with vendors, different planes were on display throughout the building for community members to look at. The event created an inviting space for community members to connect beyond the race itself.
McVay, had seen how other airports connected running and aviation to bring their community members to the airport. He said the airport hoped to do the same thing through this event as he partnered with others to boost awareness in Marion.
In addition to the 5k, the airport participates in multiple other community events that reach large numbers of the community. Mark Johnson, the director of the aviation program, said that they usually do a flyover for the homecoming football game at IWU, and they host the fly in-cruise in that attracts over 7,000 people.
The airport hosted the event not only to raise community engagement within the airport but also raise funds for the aviation program at Grant Regional Career Center for student’s’ private pilot licenses.
“The aviation program has not been the most well-known program in Marion County, and some people aren’t even aware that there is an airport in Marion County,” Darlington said.
Through awareness and education, IWU and the airport are slowly working to create excitement around this program.
Johnson talks about how the program began small but is slowly seeing quite a bit of growth throughout the program in the last couple of years.
“Our main program is growing as well. We’ve had about 25% growth the last two years.” Johnson said.
Flight school is expensive, and the staff are looking for any way to help support students
throughout their years of training by creating scholarships that make the cost cheaper and help students achieve dreams.
This event far exceeded the hopes of the people who organized it and worked hard to put it all together.
McVay said he was very happy with the turnout of the event and found that it was a great time despite the weather conditions.
For the future, the aviation program hopes to continue this tradition and grow it even more as the aviation program hopes to continue expanding and helping students further their dreams of becoming pilots.