The Taylorville Kiwanis Club heard from a 5th grade long distance runner at its Tuesday meeting at the Taylorville Moose Lodge.

Claire Sutton of Taylorville is the granddaughter of Kiwanis member Tim Sutton and spoke about her experiences being a long-distance runner at such a young age.  She told club members she's been running since the age of 2 thanks to encouragement from her parents who are also runners.  

She recently met the USA runners that qualified for next week's Paris Olympic Games, and attended those trials.   She's encouraging her friends to get into long distance running as well.  Her fastest mile has been 6 minutes 20 seconds, and she's ran 250 miles this summer as part of an area youth running club.

Claire's goal upon completing her high school and college education is to be a pediatrician.

Claire's father Chad told Kiwanis members that Taylorville High School has graduated several long distance runners that are now competing at major universities.

The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is part of a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time.  Weekly meetings are held Tuesdays at noon at the Taylorville Moose Lodge.  For information on the club, go to taylorvillekiwanis.com.