The awards ceremony was over and the finish line had been dismantled, but Erin McNew didn't mind one bit.

Thrusting her arms overhead to the cheers of a handful of folks still hanging on at the second annual Friendship Run, Erin had achieved her goal in becoming the first Friendship Club member to complete the 10K race.

Congratulated at the finish by her mom and dad, the Forest Charter School senior couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"I could not believe I just finished it," she said. "I couldn't believe it, but I did it."

It marked not only her first 10K, but the first race she'd ever run. In fact, it was only three months ago that began running at all.

"She couldn't even make it up a hill," said Josef Serrano, who along with Friendship Club Development Director Shawn Ryley, ran alongside Erin to get her ready for her debut. "At about a half mile, she would stop. She had never exercised in her life, according to her.

"But we started running for the fun of it and Erin loved it. She just did six and a half miles today and loved it. She just became the first Friendship Club girl to do the 10K and she's very, very proud of that."

And her parents, who thought their daughter was only going to run the 5K race during last Saturday's event, were also plenty proud of their girl.

"I'm just so happy for her," said Kelly, her mom. "Just seeing her really enthusiastic about this. I'm real proud of her, that she gave it her all."

Apparently, she gave even more than she'd planned.

During Saturday's race, while running the 5K alongside Serrano, Erin decided that she had plenty in the tank to go the entire 10K distance.

"Somehow, I didn't think I could do it. But as I kept on running, I knew that I was able to do it," she said. "I thought, 'Wow! I can do it!'

"When I first started running three months ago, it was very hard for me. But I kept on running and it got easier. And when I was running the 5K, I felt like I could keep going and I decided to see if I could do it."

The confidence she has gained through running is just another aspect of what the Friendship Club has meant to her. Her mother knows what a valuable role it has played in her life.

"We were just talking about how it's been so good for Erin," Kelly said. ""Because she has a speech delay issue, this had kind of helped her come out of her shell. She's matured because of the help of others in our community. It's just made her so much more confident."

And if that sounds like a success story testimonial, it should. After all it speaks directly to the club's mission:

"The idea for The Friendship Club came from Mary Collier, the director of a mentoring program in a local school district serving younger disadvantaged children," reads the www.FriendshipClub.org Web site. "Mary noticed that the teenage girls who had become too old to be eligible for the program were coming to her asking for continuing guidance and support. In answer to those needs, Mary began The Friendship Club as a week-long summer program with 15 girls in 1995.

The Friendship Club has since grown into a year-around program that serves one hundred girls in sixth through 12th grades, from all areas of western Nevada County.

And of course that mean's there are so many more untold success stories such as the one achieved by Erin McNew and her friends at the club.

"Josef and Shawn have taught me everything I needed to do to run the 10K," she said. "They were really helpful to me. They helped me to know that I can do anything."

Brian Hamilton is sports editor at The Union. Contact him via e-mail at bhamilton@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4240.