As we completed the first of four December events, the world’s most westerly parkrun welcomed 11 first timers in a field of 22 runners. Shawnigan Lake School’s junior boys basketball squad made an appearance, with Owen Quinn leading the team home in a time of 24:28 after an exciting sprint finish with teammate Jack McDonnell. Gabriel Au also became our 100th new parkrunner to cross the finish line.
We also welcomed parkrun Canada’s country manager Euan Bowman, who made the trip over from the Mainland. He was full of praise for the event, enjoying, in particular, the mix of the local and school community as well as the scenic course and enthusiastic volunteers.
Three personal-best times were achieved: Anita Gillmore (28:29), Wolfgang Kuentzle (31:15) and David Pope (31:35), while veteran (VM 75-79) Jeffrey Patterson was within one second of his best time with 35:40.
Parkrun also welcomes walkers. Our regular trio of Jackie De Jong, Elaine and Greg Hamilton, completed the course in just under 65 minutes.
Tomorrow (Dec. 14), the event will have an alternate route. This is due to the heavy traffic occurring in parts of the campus. The course will remain at 5km and the start and finish will remain in the same place. For this run and those on Dec. 21 and 28, we are in need of volunteers. Anyone who can help marshaling please email Mark at shawniganhills@parkrun.com
Register now at www.parkrun.ca/register. Walk, jog, run, volunteer or simply come and watch — it’s up to you. Be a part of the community, make new friends and socialize — we meet at Shawnigan Coffee House after each event. It is a great way to start the weekend.
Next run: Saturday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m.
– Mark Swannell, organizer
