Winnipeggers braved the cold on Saturday to run for the Salvation Army’s Santa shuffle fun run, raising $2,500 for the cause.
“For a lot of folks, this is one of the things that helps them kick off the festive season. You’ll see folks with race pinneys on, and on a lot of them, they’ll write the reason why they’re running, and a lot of them will say things like ‘to bring so cheer, to spread some joy.” said Kristin Marand, Marketing & Communications Specialist, Salvation Army.
Runners got the opportunity to don their favourite colourful clothes and their best holiday costumes for the run.
“We just like having fun with our costumes. So we’ve got a stash of ugly Christmas sweaters. It’s fun to dress up for this run,” said Runner Jocelyn Rowsell.
Marand said the 5k run is held in 32 cities across Canada.
Among the crowd of Santa clauses and elves were the Transcona Trail Trekkers, using the run as a chance to get together and enjoy the holiday spirit.
“The Santa shuffle, it’s one of those fun runs that we like to participate in. I think we got 50 people to join us and participate in today’s event – raise a little bit of awareness and some money,” said Runner Gordon Guenther.
Those who do the run every year were grateful not to have snow or minus 20-degree temperatures, like they’ve seen in the past.
“The weather was great today. And I’m starting training for my marathon in Spain, so this is the kicking off of my training,” said Runner Jeff Vince.
There were also some long-distance runners participating to keep their training going during the cold winter months and for a great cause.
“We’ve done full marathons and probably 25 or more half marathons together. And we like to do these little fun ones just to keep motivated.” said Runner Tracey Machan.
Funds raised from the run will go towards local Salvation Army programs – which they will be collecting for all season long.
— With files from Global’s Katherine Dornian