On Saturday, May 9th, families got moving for the ninth annual Red Deer PCN Women’s Fun Run. 1,656 were registered to run, walk, dance, and work out on their own accord to support the Mustard Seed’s School Lunch Program.

Participants were encouraged to get active and post their experiences on social media. 

“On Saturday morning, it was a little cooler than we would have liked, but I think people were excited to get out and excited to be apart of something that had a sense of normalcy. It didn’t get cancelled. We got lots of great pictures people emailed us and shared with us,” said Val Jensen, Race Director and Event Coordinator. 

Many sponsors continued to support the virtual event, and all registered participants received a shirt, race bib, and swag to inspire them to keep moving. 

“We raised just over 50,000 dollars actually creeping to 51,000,” said Jensen who added, “We really had a lot of community partners come together as well and just everybody committed to being active and ultimately support the Mustard Seed School Lunch Program.” 

With things going virtual, the scope of the event was broadened as people from Ontario, California, Edmonton, Calgary, and Duchess (AB) joined in. 

“One lady said ‘I was just looking for events that weren’t cancelled and yours came up. So, she said ‘I wanted to register and feel I was a part of something that moves forward.’ We didn’t let the COVID get us down,” said Jensen. 

Overall, the event went better than Jensen expected after seeing almost double the number of participants she was anticipating. Of course, it also meant a bit more work than Jensen bargained for but she says their committee persevered. 

“We’re a committee that doesn’t give up. Personally, I am not a person that gives up it’s just how can we do it that it will work. Being proactive, we did it really quickly and right at the beginning, it wasn’t an option to cancel it was just a matter of how can we work around social distancing and not gather as a crowd,” added Jensen. 

Heading forward, Jensen looks forward to the 10th annual Red Deer Women’s Fun Run on May 8th, 2021 which can hopefully be hosted in the flesh. She hopes next year’s run will be bigger and better than ever with its’ new and exciting ‘Aloha’ theme. 

88-year-old Jean Schmidt who has walked five km for the past five years participating in the 9th annual Red Deer PCN Women's Fun Run.