Running virtually adds to appeal of joining a team
One of the things that makes participating in the Sun Run special is the communal aspect. This seems to be especially true now, at a time of social distancing.
Sun Run team organizer Sharon Duffy was surprised to find that membership increased this year.
“We have some new people this year, six or seven who have never done the Sun Run,” says Duffy, a human resources coordinator at Nenqayni Wellness Centre in Williams Lake. She has organized a team in the community for the last decade. “The numbers had been going down. In the past few years, we would maybe get eight people, and they would all be people who work with us.”
This year, her team has 17 members, ranging in age from mid-20s to early-70s, made up of Nenqayni Wellness staff and family members.
This year's run, being virtual, is more accessible than ever — people can walk or run it all at once or in segments over the course of 12 days, April 18-30, wherever they are.
“It takes us five hours to get down to Vancouver, and that's a bit of a challenge, having to get hotels and everything,” she says.
She says that more people have signed up because “they realize they need to be active,” she says. “That's the way we promoted it: Here's something you can do, you can either walk or you can run, you can go at your own pace. People who were hesitating before might have thought they'd give it a try. And maybe they have more time on their hands.”
The communal aspect is why Shaw signed on last year to sponsor the Run's Team Division. Before this, the company presented the Shaw Mini Sun Run for families and kids.
“The Team Division is one of the prominent ways that people get involved, even for the first time,” says Chethan Laksham, Shaw's vice-president for external affairs. “For us, it's a chance to become a bigger proponent of the business community, and to reach out and be part of the Sun Run experience.”
Shaw's own Vancouver Sun Run Virtual Race team is nearly 150 members strong.
The company will unveil more promotions in the coming weeks. In the meantime, they have created an official Sun Run Running Club on the running app Strava. There, individuals and teams can share results, photos, and personal best times.
Duffy, too, is finding new ways to connect.
“Normally, we would meet in town three times a week with our group, do our warm-up and go for the workout,” Duffy says.
This year, team members share through a Facebook group and email. By posting their times and pictures, teammates encourage others to do so as well.
Other incentives for participating, besides being part of a group, are the T-shirts and, for the first time, medallions that registrants will receive upon completion of the run. “People are pretty excited about both,” she says. (Team packages will be couriered to team captains on March 29 for the Youth Teams 10K, and April 5 for Shaw Team Division 10K teams.)
In an email message following a gathering by nine of the members for a photo, Duffy wrote: “Everyone was excited to talk about their progress so far and share tips with others. It was a good time for us to check in. We haven't seen each other in the past few months except on Zoom.”
Shaw's Laksham says that Sun Run organizers have “found a creative way to engage people, to make sure people are still excited about the Sun Run,” despite last year's cancellation.
“This (the virtual run) is the second-best thing to the actual oneday Sun Run. The silver lining here is that everyone in the province can now participate in something that is so iconic in Vancouver. Springtime in Vancouver really starts when the Vancouver Sun Run gets underway.”
■ Youth Team Challenge final deadline: March 12
■ Shaw Team Division final deadline: March 19
The Team Division is one of the prominent ways that people get involved, even for the first time.