Submitted Photo The Reverend Frank Miller receives a donation of $1,000 from Twyla Bohl of Catholic Financial Life on behalf of Little Flower Catholic School for the school’s annual marathon, to be held on May 6. Also pictured, in front from left, are Bently Bohl, a fifth grader at the school; Brookelynn Bohl, a first grader at the school; and Blake Bohl.

Students at Little Flower Catholic School have been busy getting their bicycles ready for their annual fundraising marathon to be held on May 6 at 12:30 p.m.

The school chose “Be Brave” as its theme for this year’s event. The theme refers to 1 Corinthians 16:13, which says, “Be watchful and firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.”

“With everything going on, we thought that would be good for this year,” said Christine Schmaltz, who chairs the fundraiser. “They have t-shirts for this event with lions on them this year,” she added.

Schmaltz said students have always loved the bike marathon, although it changed a bit in recent years.

“Last year, they had kids walk around a track to raise money for the school and get pledges for doing laps around the school but this year, they’re going back to the way they’ve done it in the past and having the kids bike,” she said.

“This is one of the bigger fundraisers for the school,” she added.

Schmaltz said before the marathon, students send out letters asking family, friends, and sometimes local businesses to pledge any amount of money they’d like to contribute.

“It’s not on a per-mile basis, but just for biking,” she said of the pledge amounts. “It can be whatever you want it for.”

Schmaltz noted that two weeks before the marathon, students had already raised $10,000 toward their goal of $25,000.

The marathon starts with students and staff gathering outside of the school for a prayer at 12:30 p.m., according to Schmaltz.

She said the participants would use part of a bike path and residential area in the Chalmers Subdivision, forming a rectangle-shaped route for their marathon.

“It’s Seventh Avenue Southeast to Sixth Avenue Southeast, then part of the bike path,” she said.

“Afterwards, there’s a community social,” she added. “Everyone’s invited. If people want to join us on the bike path, they can, or join us for the community social afterwards, that’s okay, too. The social is in the church basement. It starts about 2 p.m.”

Schmaltz said Little Flower School would welcome any donations from the public for their marathon.

“They don’t have to sponsor specific students; they can donate right to the school and say it’s for the marathon,” she said of the donors.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s a fun day and the kids enjoy it,” she said of the marathon. “They’re excited to be on their bikes again this year because they love biking.

“It always seems like it’s windy the day of the marathon, so we hope by using this path, we’ll avoid the wind,” she added. “Hopefully, the snow is all melted by then.”

In case of snow or inclement weather, the marathon activities will be moved to Memorial Hall in Rugby.