Kids train for run to honour Métis veterans

Watch above: youth lacing up to honour Métis veterans with 100 km run

SASKATOON – Later this month, a number of youth from around Saskatchewan will transfer their energies into an honour run to pay tribute to Métis veterans.

Eighty kids and soldiers have been training for weeks preparing for the honour run from Saskatoon to Batoche.

“The soldiers worked hard for us and now we need to work hard for them,” said honour runner Hannah MacDonald.

On the 100 kilometer journey, the youth will be running side by side with soldiers.

“The youth are saying that we’re running to honour our soldiers but at the same token there’s that reciprocation that happens, the soldiers give youth their energy and their inspiration,” said Shannon Loutitt, Métis veterans memorial project director.

The Métis veterans memorial project was initiated by Métis honour runners in July 2010.

Loutitt was one of those participants, running for her great grandfather.

“I learned the teachings from him of how to go the distance and in essence go the distance for somebody who’s gone the distance for me and basically I guess you could say that’s what we’re trying to pass on to these youth,” said Loutitt.

That first honour run took Loutitt 15-and-a-half hours. She’s unable to run this year but is helping north Saskatchewan regiment chief warrant officer Joel Pederson prepare the youth.

“What we’re hoping to see from this is the community involvement and realizing that not just the fabric of what’s here but the potential that is going to stem from this, again these are our future leaders,” said Pedersen.

The run will start at Friendship Park on July 18 and end about 15 hours later in Batoche.

Members of the public are welcome to participate.