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One of those runners, 11-year old Reilly Hayes of Woodstock, summed up his day while watching the races in the Dietz stands with his father, Dave.
"My dad got me into running and today was the first time I ran in the mile race," Hayes said. "I've been doing this since I was in kindergarten and this was a hard run today."
Dave Hayes shared his reasons for getting his son involved in the Kids Classic.
"It's been a good way to get him to exercise and it's more of a motivation than just going out for a run with me," he said. "The race packet, the shirts, the medals, they're all something that kids can look forward to."
Six-year old Adi Spiegler, one of the many entrants from the Rosendale Elementary School, practiced hard in the preceding weeks to get ready for the grades 1-4 mile race. She finished fourth in her grade level.
"I liked it a lot," she said.
Mom Stacey Spiegler and dad, Tom, were proud of the accomplishments of Adi and her older sister, Emma, second in the second grade division of the mile.
"They got into it because of Mr. (Joe) Burns who does a great job getting the kids ready in the physical education classes," said Stacy Spiegler.
Kellen Hauck, a nine-year old who attends Harry Edson Elementary in Kingston, did double duty at the Kids Classic, running in the mile race and in the fourth-grade 400-meter run on the track.
"I'm pretty tired after running both races," she said. "I think this is my fifth year in the race. I like the ribbons and all the other stuff we get. It's fun coming here and seeing my friends from school, too."
Kingston's Theresa Burwell sat in the stands with her sons, Ethan and Alexander, looking over their signed copy of Carol Goodrow's book, "Happy Feet, Healthy Food: Your Child's First Journal of Exercise and Healthy Eating".
"I bought it because I thought it would be a great gift for the boys," Theresa Burwell said. "They both like to exercise and they both enjoy writing. I'm hoping they'll be able to use it and learn from it."
Goodrow had a steady stream of interested parents at her table, looking for an encouragement to get their children to begin a lifestyle of healthy habits.
"I've been working with children for about eight years now and Amby Burfoot from Runner's World magazine asked me to put this book together," Goodrow said. "I wanted it to be something that a child would want to use every day."
The book offers a number of ideas for daily exercise, healthy snack ideas and a place on each day to write in a journal entry.
"I have about 89 children in a running club and they are all using the book," she said. "It's really appropriate for kids ages 3-14 and I've even had a few adults buy it and use it themselves. Boys and girls seem to like it equally and I always enjoy receiving positive feedback, especially from the children."
Race director Dan Bigelow summarized his impressions of yet another year without any major snags and races that went off at or very near their scheduled times.
"It was a great day and thanks to Kierstin DeCicco and the staff at the YMCA, our organization gets better and better," he said. "I also owe a huge debt of thanks to the volunteers, especially from the Onteora Runners Club and all of the high school kids that came out to help.
"It's refreshing to have the younger kids look up to the high schoolers that have given up their day to be part of this race."
Bigelow singled out Kingston High's National Honor Society, members of the Tigers cross country team and spring track team, coach Marcel Lucchese and Chris Winn, who handled all of the race results.
"Besides our volunteers, we had a great response from our sponsors, many of the new ones in particular," he said. "I takes a lot of work to get sponsors on board and we were fortunate this year that we had sponsors coming to us.
"Our alumni have a strong association to the race and were a big part of our success. These are the kinds of things that will help the Kids Classic survive in the future."
