Saskatoon Road Runners Association makes donation to improve Meewasin Trail

The Saskatoon Road Runners Association has donated $250,000 to the Meewasin Valley Authority to help improve Meewasin Trail.

Andrea Lafond, CEO of the Meewasin Valley Authority, said the money has been applied to the Southwest Trail, which has a seating node at the end of it.

She said a study in 2014 anticipated that 2.5 million people would use the trail by 2050. Lafond said they are already hitting 2.24 million.

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“Our need to expand trails to keep up with that demand is significant,” Lafond said.

She said inflationary costs means any sort of expansion right now is more expensive so any support was welcome.

There are 107 kilometres of trail, with Lafond saying they’ve increased by around nine kilometres over the last few years.

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“We do have a multi-year trail expansion list of capital infrastructure and we really only get at that when we do get these significant donations.”

Peter Goode, president of the Saskatoon Road Runners Association, said their interest in Meewasin has gone back many years, saying there have been multiple times they’ve invested in the trail.

“It’s something we feel is almost necessary for us to do. We use the trail every single day,” Goode said.

He said it’s not just runners enjoying the trail and they’ll continue to support it.