Huge community support helped the 2nd Annual YQR Vet Run become a success last weekend despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the public health order came down from the Saskatchewan government earlier in April, organizers were left with no other options except either cancelling the April 25-26 event or moving to a virtual run. The latter option ended up being the direction they wanted to go.
This year’s 206 participants ended up raising over $8,136, which will help veterans and their families through the Legion Poppy Fund.
Derek Anaquod, race director and founder of the YQR Vet Run, said that money will assist in a variety of ways.
“If they need financial assistance for hotels, groceries or even rent. If suffering soldiers come to their local legions, they can actually apply for those types of services,” explained Anaquod.
When looking at how Anaquod and his team pulled off the event, the “virtual race” had runners keep track of their times which were then sent to organizers. Racers were also encouraged to share their progress through photos and videos.
He said it allowed them to get creative when presenting the race to participants.
“What’s going to be involved in that is we’re going to have a race weekend video that’s going to be coming out either this weekend or early next week,” shared Anaquod.
“We also have veteran stories that were stories shared by participants and members of the local community on their social media pages honouring veterans.”
More details will be released on the YQR Vet Run Facebook page.
Anaquod added that he highly recommends anyone to go to their local legion to ask more questions about their assistance programs.
