The Coal Country Run featured a record turnout on Saturday helping the charity fundraiser exceed their goal towards helping financially support the Estevan 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Debby Knight, an organizer of the annual charity event, said 177 people registered for the 5K and 10K run or walk through the trails of Woodlawn Park with another 23 kids participating in the mini-mile race. She said that number of participants is the greatest they’d enjoyed in the nine years of running the event, which led to approximately $8,000 being raised for the Summer Games.
“We have already donated $10,000,” said Knight, about the Coal Country Run’s contribution to the Summer Games over the past two years. “We were hoping to raise another $5,000 and we have done that and exceeded it.”
Knight said they implemented a new electronic timing system this year using iPads that caused a few technical problems, but otherwise the day went perfectly. She said another new addition to the race this year was having an Estevan Bruin, Lynnden Pastachak, lead the kids through the mini-mile race, which seemed to add a bit of excitement to their event.
Carson Deichert jumped ahead of Pastachak in the waning moments of the mini-mile race to claim top spot for the boy’s category with Makenna Schell following closely behind to capture first place in the girl’s group. Seth Pauwelyn, 5K, and Marcel Macfarlane, 10K, won in the adult men’s division, while Angeline Smyth, 5K, and Dana Zayats, 10K, took the adult female crowns.
“We go through the campsite, we cross the bridge and we cross the river,” said Knight. “The 10K (runners) actually cross the river three times. There are some trails in the back that nobody really knew about until last year, so it’s pretty exciting. It was a nice flat course.”
