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Celebrating Team Work

Discover creative ways to celebrate team progress and milestones using data from your Marathon Kids club or school.

Stefanie Ediger avatar
Written by Stefanie Ediger
Updated today

Celebrating is one of the core pillars of the Marathon Kids program. It’s not just about tracking progress, it’s about recognizing it! Use your club data to celebrate both individual milestones and the collective achievements of your team.

Below are creative and fun ways to celebrate club, grade, and class efforts. Click any link below to jump straight to that part of the article.


CLUB MILEAGE GOAL

All participants contribute to the Club or School Mileage Goal.

  • Create a cadence in which you provide progress updates.

  • Include celebrations during announcements or assemblies.

  • Utilize the monthly view to display and share with participants the total miles per month for the club. Celebrate progress and highlight months with the most miles or compare for progress made.


GRADE LEVEL MILEAGE TOTALS

Highlight the power of teamwork by celebrating how many miles each grade level has completed together. This is a great way to build community, encourage friendly competition, and keep students motivated throughout the season.

Here are two easy ways to track and share grade-level progress:

Option 1: Use the Impact Dashboard to Filter by Grade

Quickly check how each grade is doing by filtering your dashboard:

  • Go to your Impact Dashboard and select a specific grade from the filter

  • The data will update to show:

    • Total miles and marathons completed by that grade

    • Average miles per participant (helpful when grades have different numbers of students)

    • Monthly mileage totals

    • The top 5 individual runners in that grade

Why it matters: Tracking average mileage per student ensures fair comparisons between grades with different class sizes. You can also set grade-level mileage goals to reach by the end of the season and celebrate those milestones as a team!

Option 2: Use the Grade Leaderboard Report

Print or share grade-level data using the built-in report:

  • The first page shows:

    • Total miles run by each grade

    • Average miles per runner

    • Data based on your selected date range

This report is perfect for updates during assemblies, weekly check-ins, or newsletters to families.

Coach Tip: Share the progress visually on your Marathon Kids bulletin board. Use the Top Grade Title Card to recognize the leading grade and keep the excitement going!


CLASS MILEAGE TOTALS

Bring energy and friendly competition to your program by celebrating how far each class has run together. Recognizing class-level achievements helps build team spirit and keeps students motivated to reach new goals.

Here are two simple ways to track and share class mileage:

Option 1: Use the Impact Dashboard to Filter by Class

Easily view mileage for each class with just a few clicks:

  • In your Impact Dashboard, filter by class

  • The dashboard updates to show:

    • Total miles and marathons completed

    • Average miles per participant (important for classes with different sizes)

    • Monthly mileage totals

    • Top 5 runners in that class

Why it matters: Monitoring average miles per student ensures fair competition between smaller and larger classes. You can also set class-specific goals and track progress throughout the season.

Option 2: Use the Grade Leaderboard Report

Use this built-in report for clear, printable updates:

  • The second page shows:

    • Mileage totals for each class

    • Average miles per runner

    • Based on the date range you select

This makes it easy to recognize leading classes or track improvement over time.

Coach Tip: Display class achievements on your Marathon Kids bulletin board using the Top Class Title Card. It’s a great way to keep the momentum going!


USE THE DATE RANGE TO CREATE CHALLENGES

Keep motivation high and participation strong by adding short-term challenges throughout your season. With customizable date ranges in your reports, you can spotlight different leaders and keep things fresh all year long.

Create Time-Based Challenges

Several reports in your dashboard let you set a custom date range so you can focus on specific periods, like a week, month, or special event.

Here’s how you can use that feature to build fun mini-challenges:

  • Runner Mileage Report: Track individual runners’ totals for a selected time frame. Great for identifying new top performers!

  • Grade Leaderboard Report: Compare total miles, class totals, and average miles per runner by grade.

  • Leaderboard Report: See your club’s top 10, 25, 50, or more participants based on mileage within your date range.

Challenge Ideas:

  • “Top Class of the Week”

  • “Most Improved Grade This Month”

Coach Tip: Use these mini-challenges to recognize new faces and keep every participant engaged—not just the usual top runners.


GOLDEN SNEAKER/GOLDEN SHOE REWARD

Add a fun and memorable tradition to your celebrations with the Golden Shoe award! Whether you call it the Golden Sneaker, Golden Trophy, or something else entirely, it’s a great way to recognize top performance and spark excitement.

What It Is

This is a coach-created reward, you decide who wins it and how it’s celebrated!

Example Use

  • The class with the most miles during a weekly or monthly challenge in each grade level wins the Golden Shoe.

  • The winning class keeps the shoe in their classroom until the next round of awards.

Get creative with your award! Use a spray-painted sneaker, a small trophy, or even a paper crown. Whatever adds fun and meaning for your team.

Coach Tip: Hand out the award during announcements or a short classroom visit to make it feel extra special.


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