WEST HARTFORD, Conn - Hartford's student-athletes, coaches and staff teamed up with the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford and participated a 5k as part of the 26th annual Eversource Hartford Marathon this past weekend.

The 2020 Eversource Hartford Marathon and Half Marathon took place from Oct. 8-11 as a virtual event and included a new 10k race distance, the 5k race and three new multi-distance race challenges to engage widespread participation. Every penny of the $25 individual race registration fee was donated to the event's official charities, which supports urgent local needs. All money raised by the Hawks was donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford.

The Boys & Girls Clubs has grown to become the largest youth organization in America, serving more than 4.2 million young people in over 4,000 clubs nationwide. Through membership and community outreach, the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford serve more than 10,000 youth annually through programs focused on academic enrichment, character and leadership development and healthy lifestyles.

"Without these programs, I would not be standing here today," added men's basketball grad student Traci Carter. "I recently lost my brother over a month and a half ago and the only difference between me and my brother is I had programs and he took a different path than I did, just because -- it was that support there when I was coming up."

As a department, Hartford raised over $1,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford.

Video courtesy of NBC Connecticut: