Every Kid Deserves a Starting Line
Basketball has it. Soccer has it. Football has it. Even wrestling has it. Almost every sport gives young kids a low-pressure, community-based way to try it out early — a rec league, a bitty program, a Saturday morning clinic. For a long time, running didn't really have that in Northwest Ohio. Elementary Cross Country was built to change that.
It Started in Sylvania
Dave's Elementary Cross Country Series got its start in Sylvania, working alongside Sylvania cross country coach Dave Briggs. The idea was simple: kids already have soccer and basketball and flag football starting at a young age — why not give them a real, organized way to try running too? The model borrowed a page from community youth sports leagues everywhere — show up, no experience required, run with your classmates, get a ribbon, have fun. Nothing complicated, nothing intimidating. Just a genuine first shot at a sport a lot of kids had never even seen before, let alone tried. That simple idea caught on. Word spread through schools, some kids stuck with it, and the program kept growing — one district at a time.
From One School to Five Districts
What started as a single program in Sylvania expanded to Perrysburg a couple of years later, then to Anthony Wayne, then Springfield (which also opened its doors to runners from Swanton, Rossford, and Maumee), and most recently Oregon, where the district now welcomes kids from Lake, Northwood, and Genoa as well. Each new district joined for a similar reason: someone inside that school system — a coach, a superintendent, a longtime runner — had already seen what the program did for kids in another community and wanted the same thing for their own. Oregon's addition, for example, came after its superintendent experienced Dave's training programs firsthand and saw what a running community could do for students back home. Six locations doesn't mean six is the ceiling, either. Growth from here comes down to having the volunteers and equipment to do it well, not a lack of interest — more communities have already reached out, and Dave's stays open to adding programs where it can support them right.
Why It Still Matters
The heart of the program hasn't changed since the first Sylvania meet. It's not about building elite young runners or filling out a roster. It's about making sure every kid in Northwest Ohio has the same easy, welcoming on-ramp to running that they'd get trying rec league soccer or bitty basketball for the first time. Some of those kids will go on to run in middle school and high school. Most won't — and that's fine. What matters is that every child gets a real chance to find out whether running is something they love, in an environment built to make that discovery as fun and low-pressure as possible.
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