They’re off! Runners begin their journey from the starting line at the second Winter Runderland event, held Saturday at Bud Miller All Seasons Park. Jeannette Benoit-Leipert Meridian Source
Runners gathered at Bud Miller All Seasons Park on Saturday morning for the second annual Winter Runderland race, organized by Midwest Endurance.
In stark contrast, the first Winter Runderland held last year was held in very frigid temperatures.
“Last year it was minus 36 or 37. It was chilly, and that wind coming across the lake was brutal. But this year we were delighted with minus 4. It was an absolutely beautiful day,” said Winter Runderland co-director Chris Bogue.
“The weather has been a huge contributor to our success this year. Smoother operation, the set-up, the tear-down. All the backend things that weather really affects.”
This year there were more than 90 registrants, compared to 60-70 at last year’s event.
“Like anything, when we throw down a challenge in the community there’s always people that will answer to that, and it’s our job as the coordinators and the directors to ensure everybodys’ safety,” said Bogue.
He said you should always start out feeling a bit on the cold side in races such as these, because as you get running you’ll definitely warm up along the way.
“This year everybody was warm. There was more people taking clothes off on the trail than ever expected. ”
This is the second winter race that he and Midwest Endurance co-owner Mackenzie Brown have hosted, but there have hosted many other running events throughout the community since 2018.
Midwest Endurance is the race organization company that handles all of the Lloydminster Runners’ events. Lloydminster Runners was also founded back in 2018 by Bogue and Brown, as a way to get more runners out there together.
“I initially started it because I didn’t have any running friends. So, I said why not start a Facebook group and start inviting random people out to run on a Saturday morning. And that was the birth of this whole thing,” explained Bogue.
From there, things really took off. They now offer an array of programs and events to help people get active and stay active in Lloydminster and the surrounding area.
“We have a couple of races a year that are for-profit events, and these events help us fund the programs through Midwest Endurance and Lloydminster Runners—like our Couch to 5k program. We’ve been running this since 2019, completely free,” said Bogue.
“So the for-profit events like this one fund that, the Thorpe Running program, and our beer runs that raise money for different local charities and groups as well. But it does take a community still, to organize these events—whether it’s through our racing company or whether it’s through the volunteers that actually help to put that power to the pavement on race day.”
At the end of the races, winners were announced for each of the four categories.
The women’s 5 km winners were: Vina Paron (1st), Leanne Lloyd (2nd), Karli Tluchak (3rd).
Coming in first in the the men’s 5 km race was Mike Welygan (DUBZ), followed by Alex Giesbrecht (2nd), and Peter Giesbrecht.
In the women’s 10 km race the fastest time was logged by Vera Koster, followed by Stephanie McInnes (2nd) and Rachel Gobbels (3rd).
Cory Dyck took first place in the men’s 10km race. Brian Campbell came in second and Amro Alansari third.
