ESTEVAN — When love for sports is stronger than the fear of discomfort.
Almost 130 people registered for Coal Country Run – an annual fundraising event organized by Debby Knight and Peggy Rohatyn with the Fresh Air Fitness free outdoor gym – and almost all of them showed up despite the weather challenges.
The rain, which kicked in in the southeast Thursday evening, continued throughout Friday and into Saturday, and nevertheless, dozens of avid runners and cyclists, including a number of really young ones, gathered at Woodlawn Regional Park to participate in a fun sports community event.
Knight said they had over 60 people registered for the five-kilometre run/walk, about 30 more taking on the 10K course, close to 30 going on a 20K bike ride through the city's pathways, and over a dozen of mini milers. Several participants shifted from bicycling over to running or walking due to the weather, but most people made it there Saturday morning and were excited to head out.
"The only thing that stops us is the zero-visibility blizzard," Knight said with a laugh. "We had some people call and ask if it will go yesterday, and some people were sick, but we also had five new registrations last night."
All in all, they saw an increase in participation from last year. There were a few more people registered for the 5K run/walk. Knight also noted they were happy that the interest in cycling went up significantly. Last year the 20K bike option was offered for the first time, and there weren't too many participants, so they thought they might discontinue.
"We were hoping to get more cyclists this year. Last year we didn't have many, but that number actually almost tripled this year. So that's very good for us and encouraging," Knight said. "I'm sure that we will do it again now. It's quite a bit of work to mark all the trail, but because that did grow for us, we'll hang on to it."
The mini mile, which is a short and fun run for kids, saw increased interest as well, thanks to the efforts of Misty Pennington with the Estevan Early Years Family Resource Centre.
"She promoted it with her families at the centre, saying that you can come and bring your kids and do the 5K walk and then you can do the mini mile," Knight said. "That was really good of her to do that for us."
The Coal Country event started with an information market Friday evening. Vendors were at Rotary Hall on Saturday as well promoting their organizations and visiting with participants and their families. An online auction and a garage sale table were also set up to help raise funds for the outdoor gym.
Thanks to many generous sponsors, participants had water along their routes and were treated to brunch and coffee afterwards. All of them received gift bags, another gift courtesy of sponsors.
The Coal Country Run also saw many volunteers showing up ahead of time and on the day of the event.
"We had many great volunteers. We had some students from ECS get their hours. And then we had adults step up," Knight said. "It turned out really well. And between family, friends and co-workers, we had a lot of support."
The event is open to everyone willing to join for any reason. People can compete or just participate; organizers leave it up to them. The first three to finish in different categories are recognized afterwards.
The next big event organized by Fresh Air Fitness will be their Force Competition, which will take place in the early fall this year.
In the meantime, the outdoor gym, located in the free portion of the Woodlawn Regional Park, is open to everyone and has a lot of equipment for all kinds of sports activities.
