Runners 540 strong took to the three courses offered at the Community Futures Dinosaur Half this weekend and all went home winners.
The second annual event went off at The Royal Tyrrell Museum on Sunday morning. Walkers and runners of all ages participated in the event. The top finisher of the Dinosaur Half, Calgary’s Ken McWilliams took in the course for the first time and was impressed by the route.
“It was a great course, a lot of uphill and a lot of quick downhills. I like both, so I found it really good. It is always different running on the soft gravel, you are a little slower because of it, but it was great,” said McWilliams.
He registered for the half marathon on the date of the race and found the event very well run.
“There was nice clear markers for the route, you weren’t wondering where to go next, the aid stations were well paced, and great scenery. It is nice to see the river valley the way it is,” said McWilliams.
He said the race is well suited for future success.
“You had 400 entries last year, about 600 this year, it is a good time of the season, there is not a lot of halves, or no more fulls in the Calgary area by this time, and everything in Calgary fills up so quickly. I registered to come this morning and there was still room,” he said.
“The bigger races get the harder it is to find volunteers, but I find with the smaller communities, like Vulcan and Strathmore, you get a lot more community pride involved. You get a lot more people coming out to volunteer and help to grow it…to do a full marathon out here, it would be great, even to do a two-loop course.”
Colin Kloot, one of the organizers, was very happy to see the racers take off and meet their personal goals. He was impressed not only with the number of runners but of the supporters.
“This is a proud day for Drumheller, This is one of the biggest sporting events in the town, there are approximately 600 people in the three events,” said Kloot. “We have had a wonderful response as a result of all the hard work of volunteers, sponsors, and race committee. The race set up has been really great, the logistic teams put it together well.”
The Dinosaur Half is run in benefit of the Badlands Community Facility. Although the final numbers have not been totaled, Kloot says he hopes they will be able to contributed $10,000 to the facility.
