It was a successful, sunny day of cross-country running on Friday when the Saltcoats School held their 32nd annual Autumn Summit. The event took place at Saltcoats Regional Park and saw a total of 1,001 runners compete.
The runners, aged from grade three up to grade twelve, ran distances ranging from three kilometers for the youngest, up to six kilometers for the oldest.
Dale Sidoryk was one of the organizers of the event.
“We couldn’t ask for anything better. When we can crack the 1,000 runner mark, it’s an accomplishment,” Sidoryk said. “For two years in a row we’ve gotten more than 1,000. It’s the largest cross-country run in the province.”
Sidoryk estimates a total of 1,500 people in the park that day, combining racers and spectators.
More than forty schools took part in the run, with some athletes coming all the way from Tisdale.
Sidoryk said the results were “spread out pretty evenly” amongst the participating schools.
Notable wins from Yorkton athletes were Kelsey Haczkewicz who took first place in the four kilometre senior girls run, and Derek Campbell who took first place in the six kilometre senior boys run. Both athletes attend YRHS.
For a day with that much action to run smoothly, it takes a lot of work from a lot of people.
“We get a lot of parent volunteers, a lot of those are returners, so it makes our day flow very smoothly when everyone knows their job,” said Sidoryk.
Next on the agenda for cross-country runners in the area is the district event, taking place on Thursday, Oct. 6 at Cherrydale Golf.
