INNISFAIL - The morning had a clear blue sky but it was bitterly cold.
But up to 900 grades 1 to 6 Chinook's Edge students from across Central Alberta were too excited to care about the biting early autumn cold at Centennial Park during the morning of Oct. 3. They came from all over the region, including from Olds, Didsbury, Sundre and Sylvan Lake.
And of course, hundreds more from Innisfail Middle School (IMS) and École John Wilson Elementary School also joined in. They were all here to have fun, and for many, to get a first taste of the importance of health and fitness, and to make new friends from other parts of the region.
"Number 1, we give them an opportunity to experience cross country running. Two, it is an opportunity to be out in the sun, a chance to get outside and celebrate ParticiPACTION and fitness and a healthy, active lifestyle," said Patrick Adams, organizer of the 10th annual Innisfail Fun Run and athletic director at IMS, which has continuously hosted the local event at Centennial Park. "And three, it gives us a chance for schools from the north and the south ends of the Chinook's (school division) who sometimes don't get a chance to get anything to do because of distances, because of leagues and all those other things. It gives us a chance to get kids running from a variety of schools and a chance to meet new kids."
Local organizers for this year's Fun Run were at the park as early as 6 a.m. getting everything ready. Four different running loops were prepared, including one for the youngest of students who had a 500-metre course, a second 1,000-metre loop for kids in grades 1 and 2, another kilometre-long course for students in grades 3 and 4, and a two-kilometre loop for kids in grades 5 and 6.
"A lot of people step up and help run it. We set it up and away we go," said Adams, noting he has a group of local teachers, along with about 30 leadership IMS students and a few high school kids who added their support to make the 10th local Fun Run memorable. "It is convenient for us. It is close. It fits our age demographic. We are a middle school, grades 5, 6, 7 and 8, and so we can have them here and run. It just fell into our laps 10 years ago and every year we do it again and we enjoy it.
"All the (other) schools have to do is get their kids here. There is no cost to any of the schools to have the kids compete in this run. Chinook's Edge funds everything," he added. "They (Chinook's Edge) give us the money to rent porta-potties and do stuff like that just so we can get the kids out. It's a chance for us to get the north and south ends of our school division in a competition together."
But the competition aspect of the event was clearly secondary. Even with the biting chill of the morning, each participating child cheerfully scampered and ran their best across the park field, along the trails, up hills and into the trees, a mere stone's throw away from the scenic shoreline of Napoleon Lake.
"We kept rolling until we ran out of kids," said Adam. "It's kind of impressive when you get 100 kids running up towards you across the field over there."
