Maybe it is the sign of spring arriving or perhaps the name parkrun is getting out there in the Cowichan Valley because event number 21 had our largest attendance this year, and our second largest since we started — 38 participants! In fact, these were some of the reasons why the 11 first-timers participated last Saturday. Others, such as Don, Andrea and Kaye Hare have between them completed 19 parkruns in seven different locations: Coldham Common, Margate, Pegwell Bay and Cambridge in England, and Clover Point, Richmond and now Shawnigan Hills in B.C. Great effort.
We also welcomed Leilana Vansolkema and Izaak Thomas who were visiting from Edmonton, Alberta. They will be debuting their local parkrun at River Valley on their return.
There were personal best times from Kevin van der Linden (23:00), Brian Zimmerman (31:55), Jeffrey Patterson (33:59), Linda Zimmerman (34:44), Brad Kornelson (35:20) and Janice Anderson (37:32). Well done to all involved.
As mentioned a few weeks ago, parkrun celebrates International Women’s Day on March 7. We would like to encourage women and girls to take part and for all participants, male or female, to wear purple. Please join us then.
Finally, please make sure you register with https://www.parkrun.ca/register/ before your first event. It is free and this enables you to keep track of your performances after each run.
The next run will be Saturday, Feb. 29 at 9 a.m. This is the first ever leap year parkrun. The next one will be in 2048!
– Mark Swannell, organizer
