Matthew McCarl and Connor Schenk were among the first finishers in the one-mile Capitol Classic fun run Tuesday, and despite the mid-90s afternoon heat, the two looked like they hardly broke a sweat.

That becomes even more impressive when you find out that earlier on Tuesday, the two went on another run — up Mount Helena.

Schenk and McCarl, both 10-year-olds who attend Smith School, were among roughly 100 Helena 6- to 14-year-olds who participated in the run down Broadway from Montana Avenue to St. Peter’s Hospital.

This was the first year the run, which kicked off St. Peter’s annual back-to-school health fair held at the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

Jacob Kreamer, 14, who will be in ninth grade at St. Andrew School this fall, had a littler tougher time finishing the race — but then, he spent part of it with his sister riding on his back.

“It was hard,” said Kreamer, a soccer player, “especially when I was carrying my little sister.”

Members of the Carroll College football and volleyball teams ran in the fun run, as did members of the Helena Brewers baseball team.

Schenk and McCarl, who both play baseball, basketball and football in addition to running, said getting to meet the athletes was a big draw. Judging by the line of kids waiting to get the players’ autographs, they weren’t the only ones who thought so.

Junior quarterback Gary Wagner and junior linebacker Shane Van Diest were among the Carroll football players who participated in the run.

The two finished somewhere in the middle of the pack of the kids who were running. Wagner joked that their excuse for not having a better finish was that they had already done a football-related workout earlier in the day.

They said the players participated as a way to set an example for youngsters about the importance of exercise.

“It’s good to get them excited about it,” Van Diest said.

“I love kids,” said Saints volleyball player Kayla Hughes about why she, along with the rest of the team, participated. “I love exercise and I love kids.”

According to Peggy Stebbins, director of public relations and marketing at St. Peter’s, the idea for the noncompetitive fun run came from another hospital that had done a similar event.

“We thought, what better event to tie it into than the back-to-school fair?” Stebbins said.

John Solheim, St. Peter’s president and chief executive officer, said hospital officials felt including an exercise aspect to the fair could be a good way to help make exercise a part of their daily lives.

Other than the run, one of the most popular activities at the fair was a booth manned by Ron Clevenger of the St. Peter’s Hospital clinical laboratory that showed human organs donated to the hospital for research purposes. Clevenger demonstrated how the organs worked and offered students cautionary tales about staying away from drugs, alcohol and smoking by showing what those things can do to the body’s organs — such as a liver bloated by years of drinking and the blackened lungs of a smoker. As he spoke, there was continuously a crowd of about 20 or so around his table.

Shay Layton, who will enter her junior year at Capital High School this fall, was particularly engrossed in Clevenger’s demonstrations.

“It’s all interesting to me. I want to be a nurse,” said Layton. She said nothing from the exhibit surprised her, but the most shocking thing she saw was a lung damaged by years of smoking.

Also at the fair were free sports physicals done by St. Peter’s physicians, free well-child screenings and other health education booths and demonstrations. With a long line of children waiting to get sports physicals, things were pretty quiet for the nurses from the Lewis and Clark City-County Public Health Department on hand to give immunizations.

The health department’s Kay Robertson said nurses were providing all immunizations needed for entering kindergarten, as well as boosters needed for middle school students. Robertson said those who still need their immunizations can get them at the health department Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For questions about immunizations, call 443-2584 and ask for an immunization nurse.

Features Editor Joe Menden: 447-4087 or joe.menden@helenair.com