More than 600 people from the Houston community attended this year’s Baylor College of Medicine Wellness 5k Race/Walk. Hosted by medical students, the third annual event took place Saturday, Oct. 11, with the race starting at Baylor’s main campus and taking the scenic route along Brays Bayou and through the Texas Medical Center.
BCM Wellness 5k
This year, the race course was officially certified by USA Track & Field Association. A kids’ 1k race also took place, with more than 50 children registered for the event.
“This year’s event was bigger and better than anything we’ve done in the past. While we always try to make an effort to improve, we were blown away by the feedback and response we got from the participants, as well as by the amount of money we were able to raise. This year’s race meant even more to us personally because of the loss of one of our committee members, Nrithya Sundararaman, to whom we dedicated our race this year. She was always on our minds throughout the whole experience,” said race coordinators and medical students Lakshay Jain and Kevin Shen.
“We were honored to have Nrithya’s parents and brother participate in the 5k this year. The student leaders and members of the BCM community helped to make this year’s 5k a success. Each year, more and more families are participating as well – the 1k race had many more runners than the previous year,” said Dr. Toi Harris, interim associate dean for student affairs and diversity.
The event helps fund medical student-initiated community service projects through the Grants for Leadership Opportunities in Wellness (GLOW) Awards as well as the Student Wellness Program, which helps future physicians learn how to become better educators of wellness. An estimated $15,000 was raised through the event.
Post-race activities took place at the McGovern Commons of the Texas Medical Center and included an awards ceremony with food, music and prizes.
BCM Family 