Monday, July 2, 2007

Canada Day - 2007

Yesterday was Canada Day, and not to mention, the 140th one to boot! I decided to celebrate by volunteering at the HBC Run for Canada. Proceeds from the race go towards bursaries for our athletes training for Olympic events. The event includes a 10K run, 3K walk and a 1K kids event. Runners all get a personalized race shirt with their bib number printed on it which is pretty neat! The event started and finished at Fort Calgary, and I got there by 6:30 am to check in as a volunteer. We were given these really snazzy tech shirts to wear, just for volunteering! I met my water station captain and we waited until about 7:30 when we were driven out to our water station - the first one at the Calgary Zoo around the 3.5K mark. When we got to our stop there were these two suspicious looking guys in suits hanging around the water table. Turns out they were a jazz duo that were getting ready to play as part of the on course entertainment...! We got our station ready, and about 5 minutes after the race had started the first runners started to arrive. They were really moving! The first several runners didn't stop for water at all, then the first guy to take his cup only wanted it to splash over his head. Believe it or not there is a definite technique with regards to handing out water. Things were crazy for about 10 minutes when all of the runners started to arrive, but then it was over as quickly as it began. We were picked up and driven back to Fort Calgary, and I headed to the finish line to cheer in the runners. There were several athletes taking part in the event, and they all had special shirts on to designate them. Many had their name and sport printed on the front which was really neat. I noticed mostly skeletoners and speed skaters. They were waiting at the finish line to give all the finishers their medals. I cheered on all the little kids at the 1K run as well, and saw Catriona Le May Doan (Canadian Olympic Gold medalist) running with her daughter. What a great way to get kids excited about exercise and being active! I loved the event and thought it was really well done. I had a blast volunteering, but next year I think I'd really like to run this one!

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