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More than 120 hit the trails for Mother’s Day Run

It’s a good thing the Mother’s Day Run happened in the morning because, well, who would have wanted to run it in the afternoon on Sunday?
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Grace Twa adjusts the earbud as she runs in the Yk Multisport Club’s Mother’s Day Run at Somba K’e Park on Sunday. James McCarthy/NNSL photo

It’s a good thing the Mother’s Day Run happened in the morning because, well, who would have wanted to run it in the afternoon on Sunday?

Somba K’e Park was the site for the annual event, co-hosted by the Yk Multisport Club and True North Rotary, with more than 120 runners and walkers braving the wind and cold. It was the first event in the Fun Run/Walk Series, a circuit of six events, each with a different theme throughout the season.

Cameron Twa, one of the multisport club’s directors, was on hand to help oversee things and he said it was lucky that the worst of the weather on Sunday held off until after the event was over.

“I had people asking me the night before if it was still happening and I told them it was,” he said. “I didn’t know how bad it would have been — it turned into a skating rink later on — because we don’t normally cancel an event unless it’s too cold or if there’s lightning in the area. Had that awful sleet happened in the morning, I would have probably called it off because you don’t want people endangering themselves.”

But it stayed away long enough for people to hit the Frame Lake Trail and sidewalks around the park, something Twa said has become an annual tradition of sorts for some.

“We had our regulars, lots of families running together, and that’s always fun to see,” he said. “Some have been doing this for years and it would be fun to go back into the history books and see how they’ve all progressed.”

This was one of the events in the series which doubled as a fundraiser for a local organization and this year’s chosen organization was the Yellowknife Women’s Society. Adult entrants had to pay an entry fee to take part and when all the money was added up, approximately $3,400 was raised for the society.

Twa said that’s the goal of the series: having fun and helping out.

“This is all about getting people doing something active and giving back at the same time,” said Twa. “It’s not competitive on purpose. We don’t have (timing) chips and it isn’t about who wins or loses. It’s about having fun and being active.”

Twa also said the entire series is being jointly organized by the multisport club and True North Rotary with Norland Insurance stepping up to sponsor the entire series this year.

The next event is scheduled to take place on June 12 with a theme yet to be determined.