2nd annual Tillsonburg MSC Trail Walk and Run
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Eric MacFadden’s biggest competition in Sunday’s Tillsonburg MSC Trail Walk and Run was his son Evan.
Evan, a Grade 4 cross-country runner at South Ridge Public School, was certain he won their sprint to the finish line.
“Yeah, he pushed me,” smiled Eric, still out of breath after running the 5 km route neck-and-neck to a photo finish. “He was really making me work to keep up to him. I’ve never seen him run that hard before – he really pushed himself.”
“It was fun, a nice day. My wife and daughter are still coming, but Evan wanted to push himself.”
Elementary school cross-country meets generally have shorter distances for Evan’s age, usually 1-3 km, so Evan actually went almost triple the distance he will run in school meets.
“I was trying to teach him how to pace himself,” said Eric. “A bunch of the kids started together and they all took off. We kept the same pace and eventually passed some of them. I said, ‘let them burn themselves out, keep the pace.’”
Eli Newson also ran the 5 km route.
“I pretty much ran the whole way,” said Newson, a cross-country runner at Rolph Street Public School.
Newson said his school cross-country race will be 1.5 km, while his older brother Carter will run 2 km.
Given a choice between hard and easy, Eli described Sunday’s 5 km run as ‘in the middle.’
“I was running against Kaden Bailey – and I won,” he grinned. “He finished like right behind me.”
Sunday’s second annual Tillsonburg Trail Walk and Run, a just-for-fun fundraising event organized by Tillsonburg Multi-Service Centre and Stonebridge Community Services, featured both a 2 km loop, rated low difficulty, and 5 km loop, rated medium difficulty with two steep hills. Participants could walk or run either of the Carroll Trail loops starting at Coronation Park.
“It’s a combination, you can either walk or run,” explained Valerie Foerster, member of the MSC board of directors and fundraising chairperson. “It was all mapped out.”
In addition to the walk/run, there was a bounce castle (Super Air Bounce Rentals) and face painting for the kids, and special visitor Sparky the Fire Dog.
“They’ve got a lot of great activities and they mentioned they had probably twice as many registered this year, so they were thrilled with that,” said Vickie Thomas, administrative coordinator for Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario.
“I think it’s great to see so many kids. They’re off to a good start for this fundraiser.”
A total of 113 people participated Sunday. Fundraising proceeds of approximately $4,500 will be split between MSC and the Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario.
Foerster said the Parkinson Society was selected as a shared fundraising recipient to carry on the tradition of Tillsonburg’s annual Wipe Out Parkinson event (2009-2011), originally organized by Corry Davis, Anne Ploss, Sandi Beernaert and Karen Robinson.
“We wanted to have some type of the event for the fall,” said Foerster. “And they were no longer having the Parkinson Run, so we decided to join up with the Parkinson Society and form this fundraiser.”
MSC September-Fest
Saturday’s MSC fundraiser at The Livingston Centre, September-fest, was cancelled due to rain.
“By 8 a.m. the weather was pretty nasty,” said Foerster. “We’ll try again next year.”