Members of the campus community came together Thursday to run 3.1 miles around the campus as part of the Sacramento State 5K Fun Run.

“The goal of the Fun Run has always been to highlight Sac State, bring the community together, promote wellness and have a celebration before the end of the school year,” The WELL Director Kate Smith said.

The event was the ninth annual Fun Run, and the event has grown larger each year with 1,100 runners participating this year. The event started in 2009 one year before The WELL opened, so it was a collaboration between the student housing center and University Union Recreation Sports.

The running route featured a start and ending point in front of the The WELL and runners were guided through campus, Parking Lot 8 and around College Town Drive.

Runners were guided through the route by volunteers who could be identified by their purple shirts with the labels of “Sac State Fun Run, 5K, mustache edition and volunteer”

“My volunteer duties were putting cones down to guide the incoming runners, setting up caution tape around the parking lot by the library and after the race we cleaned up,” said Aaron Khoshsefat, a third-year student. “It was a cool experience volunteering for the Fun Run.”

The mustache edition of the 5K is a special feature added to the the Fun Run to create some competition between the participants. Awards were given out to the participant who had the most creative fake (or real) mustache and to the most spirited group from an on-campus organization.

A variety of food trucks were also set up in front of The WELL for supporters, volunteers and participants to enjoy for the event.

There was also a competition among student DJ’s that involved sending in a video to Erica Wood, the assistant director of special events and informal recreation. The student selected goes by the name of DJ Suspence.

“The food trucks and the DJ are what make this Fun Run different from previous years,” said Wood, who is directing her second 5K as full-time for The WELL.   

Despite the positive environment on-campus, traffic was affected due to to the closure of College Town Drive going south past the intersection of State University Drive with the Hwy. 50 off-ramp to Howe Avenue and College Town Drive heading towards campus getting backed up with more traffic than usual.

Most runners had crossed the finish line by 7 p.m. an hour after the Fun Run began and were given waters, bananas and granola bars to recover after the 5K.