ELIZABETH, W.Va . (WTAP) - A breast cancer awareness race held for the first time in Elizabeth and the organizer hopes to make it an annual event for the community.

The Breast cancer Awareness Walk was held at Sportsman Park in Wirt County Saturday, Sept. 27 and it was the organizer of the race, Brooklyn Watts first time organizing a race herself.

Watts said hosting the race was important to her because breast cancer is something that has affected her family and many others in the community.

"It was laid upon my heart probably about six months ago. God laid it upon my heart to try to get out into the community in such a small community and let others know that they are heard and we do hear them. We hear their needs, and we just wanted to let them know that they do have a special place here in Wirt County," said Watts."

The walk began at 8:30 a.m. and the participants did a total of12 laps around the park.

Watts said the race had a bigger turn out than she was expecting.

"I started out with 12 medals, I said if I can just get 12 people here, I'll be so happy and then we ended up with 42," said Watts. "I was beyond amazed with the outcome and I'm so appreciative of the small community here in Wirt County for that."

After handing out the medals to the participants, there was guest speaker there to talk about their experience, according to Watts.

"She was one of my good friends. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she has been going through that," said Watts. "We had her speak. She gave her testimony, and it was amazing."

One of the walk participants, Haylee Exline joined the race to support Watts in her new journey.

"I work with Brooklyn, and when she first brought it up to me, I thought it was a good idea, and it started small, and it just grew, it just kept growing," said Watts. "It was a blessing because we don't have very many events like this and we're a small community. People are getting more active, and we are really looking forward to the next one."

Watts organizing a Halloween one mile and 5k race Oct. 18 in Sportsman Park.

Exline said the walk was fun because she could tell everyone was really enjoying themselves.

"I think everybody was having fun and a lot of us just walked and chatted and some of them ran," said Exline. "I think just the memories of spending time together and getting kind of the community together was good."