The sun had long risen by the time runners and walkers took off from Holy Rosary High School for the second instalment of the Synergy Sunrise Run.
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The run, hosted by the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation (LRHF), financially supports mental health initiatives in Lloydminster.
“We’re raising towards Project Sunrise once again, so mental health,” said Kagan Kneen, LRHF CEO, noting pre-registration for the event was sold out with 450 people taking part in the run.
“We’re significantly higher than last year.” He said.
The foundation added a number of new events to this year’s run.
“We also had a bunch of changes this year. We added the 7-kilometre loop as well as a kid’s mini mile and the mini-to-mighty challenge,” said Kneen. “We’ve got littles anywhere under 10 years old that are going to be participating in the Synergy Vault for different distances based on their age.”
With the success of the event, Kneen explained the event will return again next year, likely remaining in its current home.
“Holy Rosary’s been an amazing community partner. Being able to use the facility and the Synergy Vault has been great,” he said.
When it comes to Project Sunrise and the work LRHF does, Kneen said they provide resources for those who may not know where to find them otherwise.
“We have LloydminsterMentalHealth.ca and that’s the website that’s managed by the health foundation. It provides resources for people that don’t know where to go or who to talk to,” he said.
The foundation has also teamed up with community partners to offer rapid-response walk-in counselling
“We’ve partnered with Integrated Therapies’ Pathways to Wellness to make sure that anybody that’s going through mental health crisis has those additional urgent supports as well,” he said.
With the Health Foundation’s gala and Sunrise Run now wrapped up, Kneen noted the next major event is still a ways away.
“Next isn’t going to be until Gift to Health, so Dodge for a Cause,” he said, noting there’s no date yet for the event.
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