If you review a community event calendar you may see organizations offering a one-mile fun run with their events.  This short distance run can improve your audience reach within the community and compliment a 5K or 10K nicely.  They can also be great add-ons to weekend festivals or health fairs. Including more people in your event is, of course, a winning situation when it comes to generating more funds for your charity.

There are a lot of different ways you can add a one-mile fun run to your event and several different audiences for which you can tailor it. These events appeal to different age groups and exercisers in a way that longer races may not. It is ideal to use this event to reach the audiences you may be missing with your longer events.

Here are a few of the ways you can appeal to different audiences by adding a one-mile fun run to your plan.

Involve children. This length of event is an ideal way to include youth in your event. While a 5K can be too lengthy, a mile is an achievable and safer distance for children of grade school age. These events serve as an excellent way to get children started with participating in charity fitness events.

Promote family participation. You can hold the event solely for children, but it can be even more beneficial to make it a family focused event. Allow parents to run with their kids in the one-mile event to encourage families to get involved in fundraising for your charity.

Invite a more diverse group of exercisers. Depending on fitness level, successfully completing a 5K can take a significant amount of training and focus on running. Sometimes even walking a 5K can be a lot if someone new to exercise. A one-miler can make your event more approachable for participants who fall in this category. Some exercisers may never consider a 5K, but a one-mile event may spark their interest.

Draw in the non-competitive types. Long distance events can bring out the competitiveness in people. This isn’t a bad thing unless you are the non-competitive type. The nature of the event alone can turn off those individuals who like to exercise and raise funds, but dislike the feel of competition. One-mile fun runs are just that – fun! If you are already hosting a longer, timed event consider focusing your one-miler on completion. If you want to give out prizes for this event, consider doing it based on a raffle as opposed to finishing places.