What started out last year as simply a free fun run sponsored by the North Whidbey Park and Recreation Department has become a community event.

Director Craig Carlson said last year’s numbers were small as just nine people attended, but that number nearly quadrupled for the second running of the event Wednesday evening at the North Whidbey Middle School track.

This year’s turnout included a group of kids from the Whidbey Island Running Club who showed off their skills on the track, but there were also a number of other kids and adults in attendance.

“It’s a perfect evening and we’ve got a good turnout,” Carlson said. “Of course we’ve got the running club, but we’ve got a lot of other kids and adults as well.”

Runners were divided into four groups according to age, and one of the highlights was three small children who were being pushed around the track in strollers.

With the event being a mile in length, after about two laps pushing the strollers, it turned exactly into that — a stroll.

Ten-year-old Carolynn Wicker, one of the running club members, won the girls 12-and-under event, breezing to victory by a considerable margin.

There was quite a collection of runners in the 12-and-under race, including 6-year-old Frances Empinado who despite being small in stature, showed a good stride and won her division with a time of 10:21.41.

“It was fun,” she said, munching on a cookie and sipping GatorAde at the conclusion of the race.

Ethan Tack was the winner of the boys 12-and-under race in a time of 7:09 and is not a member of the running club, so he was immediately contacted by coach Catie Rodeheffer.

Tack said this was the first time he’d run the mile. He’s is a member of the North Whidbey Aquatic Club Aquajets, so he spends most of his spare time training in the pool.

“My favorite event is the 100 individual medley and I won a first-place ribbon the last time I swam,” he said.

Also competing in the boys 12-and-under event was Miguel Guzman, who did his four laps around the North Whidbey Middle School track pushing 2-year-old Azariah Curtain in a stroller.

“We are good family friends,” Curtin’s mother said.

Two other stroller pushers were Ria Averrios-Smith who had her son, Kaeden, in the “sulky” and Gephrey Taton and her 2-year-old son, Mikey.

Averrios-Smith had the whole family, including sons Ian, Myles, Zane, and husband, Doc, at the race cheering her on and running as well.

“I’m tired,” was all she could manage to say after the race.

Taton also had her other children Chloe and Zeke, along with husband, Tim, with her.

“It was fun, Mikey likes the fast ride,” she said.

Whidbey Island Running Club members Hannah Kagey and Christina Wicker finished first and second in the 13-year-old division.

“Christina is my pacer,” Kagey said, after the two sprinted the final yards to the finish line.

The oldest competitor in the race was 73-year-old Herm Eckles, who finished in a time of 7:12.7.

Wednesday’s second annual Whidbey Island one mile track run was a true display of a cross section of the island’s multi-cultured community, and is only going to get bigger and better in the years to come.