The Dinosaur Half Marathon is looking forward to growing up and becoming a full marathon.
    Organizers of the annual event presented the Badlands Community Facility with $20,000, its largest contribution in its four year history, making its all time total contribution $53,000.
    Mayor Terry Yemen is grateful for the support and appreciates that the Community Futures Badlands Dino Half has continued to support  the Badlands Community Facility.
    “There is monetary support for this but there is more to it. There are over 400 people attending and they are not all from Drumheller. They are taking their stories home and sharing them,” said Mayor Terry Yemen.
    Over those four years, Community Futures has been the main sponsor of the event and plans on continuing support in the future.
    “But through their sponsorship and initiation this would have never taken place. In these four years, the community has thrived with health and fellowship. For the last two years, this has been the single largest sporting event in Drumheller,” said Colin Kloot of the Dino Half organizing committee.
    “We are making this a flagship event in Alberta and we hope to look back in 20 years time and (Community Futures) will still be a proud sponsor of this event.”
    Wayne Hove, general manager of Community Futures, says the event fits in its mandate.
    “This event covers all three aspects of economic development. There is a physical component, a social component and economic component, and these factors play a large reason for its prominence in our plans. It is so professionally well done every year that it is very easy to keep seeing the perpetuation of it,” said Hove.
    Next year the event will have both the full and half marathon, as well as the 5k and 10k races.
    “Next year we are adding a full marathon into the fold and we are hoping to make this a premiere event in the province,” said Kloot, saying this has always been a goal for him.    
    “My initial vision was for a marathon, and then we realized from a logistic point of view that we should start small and grow from there.”
     He adds he believes there is support out there for the event to grow, and the best way is through word of mouth. So far, with the positive feedback, they have heard about the new routes and the unique landscape in Drumheller, the event has a good chance to grow.  He projects there could be upwards of 1,000 participants in the next two years.

(l-r) Jens Madsen and Colin Kloot of the Dino Half present Mayor Terry Yemen with a donation of $20,000 to the Badlands Community Facility, with Wayne Hove of Community Futures, the naming sponsor  of the event.

    Avid swimmers in Drumheller will have to hang up their towels for the next two and a half months.
    The Drumheller Aquaplex will be shutting down on November 4 and is scheduled to reopen January 18. During the shutdown, the Aquaplex’s  heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system will receive a major overhaul.

Residents will only have a few more days to enjoy the Drumheller Aquaplex before it closes on Monday November 4 for an overhaul of the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. It is expected the upgrade will be completed early in the new year and the Aquaplex will reopen on January 18.

    “These are long overdue improvements to the Aquaplex. We know it’ll inconvenience our users for some time. Our preference would have been to do the work while both the indoor and outdoor pools were in use, but the contractor couldn’t make that window,” said Paul Salvatore, Director of Community Services for the Town of Drumheller.
    The intention of the upgrades is to improve the air quality of the building.
    “They are really extensive air handling upgrades. It’ll increase the quality of the air, in particular, deal with the humidity and air flow levels. It’ll make it a much more comfortable environment for users and staff,” said Salvatore.
    Council awarded the contract for upgrades at the September 23 meeting of Town Council to Dee Jay Plumbing & Heating Ltd. for $361,853.10.
    Residents with passes to the Aquaplex are being encouraged to stop by the Badlands Community Facility (BCF). Aquaplex passes will be accepted at the BCF during the shutdown.
    “If they have a pool-only pass we’ll honour that at the BCF. There are people who just use the pool, so maybe this will give them an opportunity to try something different with their routine and do some cross-training. Ideally, we don’t want to stop service, but luckily, we have a great facility and the arena,” said Salvatore.
    After the upgrades are complete, Salvatore hopes plans can be made to bring in a new water slide.
    “Once we get past this, then down the road we can look at more fun things, like replacing the water slide. We’ll be looking at options as we go into this session of council. Hopefully we’ll get some plans in place and involve the public  in determining what the final design will be,” said Salvatore. “A lot of people have commented they miss that feature, but one step at a time. For now we’ll focus on the HVAC upgrades and then the water slide as soon as we can after that.”