Lloydminster runners are gearing up for the second annual Titanium Half Marathon, August 14 at Bud Miller Park.
Mackenzie Brown with Midwest Endurance says they are more than ready to host even a newbie to distance running. This all comes on the heels of the trials of the COVID months.
“What happened last year for the whole race industry is no one was not allowed to put on events. A lot of races went out of business and were not able to do anything. Running is a social sport. People like getting in groups and going out running and races are the celebration of that training.”
Brown says people train all year and then go out to see their performance. So this year is a celebration.
Race day will see a few components including a half marathon which is 21.1 km, a 10 km race, 5 km race and also a one kilometre kids fun run starting from 8 a.m. The kids run will start at 10:30 a.m.
Brown notes there have been informal running clubs in the Border City over the years, but the Lloydminster Runners came together in 2018 to centralize running efforts for people to simply get together to run. Their efforts now include running monthly business challenges, weekly group runs, clinics and training.
“We run monthly running challenges where local businesses donate prizes for people that hold us in this accountability challenge. We also run closed group runs. We meet every Wednesday for group running. We run various running programs. The big one being our Couch to 5K program that runs every Spring. We get people who aren’t running and give the coaching they need to get that initial program in place. So at the end of a nine week program they can run a 5K.”
To sign up for the race you can go to their website or follow their links on Facebook and Instagram.