On June 16, the Carman Cool Cats Run Club set off running throughout the streets of Winnipeg for the annual Manitoba Marathon. The 2024 Marathon marked the Run Club’s 21st year in operation and being a part of the Champions in Training School Program that the Manitoba Marathon puts on.
Students from Carman Collegiate and Ecole Carman Elementary School (ECES) were part of four relay teams, along with some teachers, parents and volunteers in the club. Each participant ran a leg of the relay, making up the 26.2-mile marathon course.
Runners had to pass off a race belt timing bib to the next relay team member waiting for their turn to run a several-kilometre course stretch. Family members and teammates could then track the runner wearing the belt on an app on their smartphones to watch their progress in the race.
“Watching these young kids eagerly waving down their teammates finishing their run and passing along the baton to them was super emotional, from a parent’s perspective,” said Logan’s mom, Jolie Braun. “To be part of something so special and be running in a foreign environment with thousands of other runners you don’t know was such a unique experience for these kids.”
Braun’s son, Logan, who is ten years old and a first-time marathon runner, said during his relay leg that older runners were cheering him along, saying, “Good job, little buddy.”
“I had tears brimming watching him run in and proudly pass off the belt to his team member,” said Braun.
During the Manitoba Marathon, the young Carman runners ran through several city neighbourhoods, including St. Vital, St. Boniface, Osborne Village, and Fort Garry. Relay teams ran across bridges over the Assiniboine and Red Rivers and through Assiniboine Park.
They also ran past the Legislative Building and even into the Princess Auto Stadium, where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers play, where they crossed the finish line on the field. In the stands, family, friends and runners who finished their part of the race could easily be seen, wearing the run club’s signature bright yellow jerseys and holding a giant Cool Cats sign of the same colour.
All four relay teams finished the Marathon after running more than three hours. Each relay team got a special medal that could be split into pieces, one for each member, marking their accomplishment.
“As head of the Cool Cats Run Club, it is very exciting and rewarding to see our students and parents reach their final run club goals after training intensely for three months,” said Ecole Carman Elementary School teacher Lisa Goertzen. “Although our Super Run (5K) distance runners was a smaller group than normal, we did increase our Relay Teams to include one more student and one more adult team. All runners ran with heart and completed as a team with fantastic results.”
The Carman Cool Cats run club teams placed in the Marathon as follows:
Cool Cats 1 youth team placed ninth overall out of 14 and fifth out of 10 in the mixed category.
Cool Cats 2 youth team placed 13 out of 14 overall and ninth in the mixed category.
Cool Cats 3 adults team placed 24th overall out of 226 relay teams. They placed 14 out of 164 for adults.
Cool Cats 4 adults team placed 189 overall and 137 out of 164 for adults.
“Bravo to all runners,” said Goertzen. “A huge thank you goes out to the other team leaders, Chris Dick, Sam Bryson, Roxanne Girouard, and numerous parents. Your commitment to our club does not go unnoticed. Thank you to administrators Coreen Johnston and Pat Hamm for being our cheerleaders and transporters of personal belongings during the race. All of the support is a huge reason for the run club’s success. We ran the miles with huge smiles, but the best part was returning to school on the Monday and hearing the run club runners say, ‘We can’t wait to do it again.’ Congratulations, ECES Cool Cat Runners, we are proud of you.”
Standard Photos by Jolie Braun and Lisa Goertzen
