Colour Fun Run promises to be the “bomb”
Get drenched in colour and help benefit the local figure skating club this Sunday, Oct. 1
BY KIM LANGEN
Blasts of colourful paint will by flying through the air this Sunday, as local figure skaters kick off the start of a brand new season with a vivid five-kilometre fundraising run.
And they want everyone to come out and enjoy the whacky new event.
“It’s called a Colour Fun Run, and it’s really fun,” said synchro skating coach Kayla Taylor. “We will have boxes of pink, purple, green, blue, and yellow paint powder. The colour comes all the way from Utah. There will be colour stations along the way, and each time you pass, you will be colour bombed.”
Taylor has been bombed a few times herself, while participating in some of Winnipeg’s ‘Colour Me Rad’ fundraising events.
That’s where she came up with the idea.
“I ran two races for their Colour Me Rad,” she said. “It’s been used in a few cities for fundraising, and it’s really popular and really successful. For the past few years we have had Glow Runs here in Killarney, starting at 7 p.m., with glow sticks. But this year we decided to switch it up with something different. And we decided on a Colour Fun Run. We need to bring in a bigger crowd, and a different crowd, so this will take place on a Sunday afternoon. This is our big fundraiser, and it will help us with travel costs for out-of-province competitions.”
The explosive event starts at 1 p.m. this Sunday, October 1, beginning at the Shamrock Centre.
And it will run rain or shine, say organizers.
You can still register in advance, at the Mary Ann Moore Wellness Centre, the Shamrock Centre, and at Lewis and Jones.
Or you can just turn up for the exciting event.
The cost is $20 per runner, or $50 per family.
“We had a late registration fee, but we have decided to drop that,” said Taylor. “People can just turn up on the day, and register for the same price.”
And you don’t have to be a runner to make your mark.
“It’s family-friendly,” said Taylor. “You can walk it. And you can push a baby stroller. The babies don’t have to be painted.”
And the first hundred participants to put their names down get some special colour powers of their own.
“The first 100 people to register get their own bag of colour, to do what they want with it,” said Taylor. “They can use it on themselves, or on other people.”
Taylor recommends that participants wear a white shirt – to totally show off their colours as the bombings get underway.
And the paint is not permanent, she added.
“The colours are a non-toxic powder, and it does wash out of clothes, and off your body,” she said.
The route for the runners (or walkers) will begin at the Shamrock, following a brief warm-up, and go around the town.
“We will head south, down Broadway, all the way to the end, to Centennial Park,” said Taylor. “From there we go west on Park Street and then right onto Clark. We will then turn left, and go west down Young Street, all the way to the end, to make a loop. Then we come back up on Wells Street, left onto King Avenue, and turn right and go east up South Railway. When we hit Broadway, we’ll turn left, go over the tracks, and head back to the Shamrock Centre. There will be four colour stations along the way, for colour bombing, and at the finale, at the Shamrock, there will be one more big colour bombing. The whole thing should take between half an hour, and 45 minutes.”
And if you are interested in taking up the graceful art of synchro skating this season, there’s room on the town’s two terrific teams.
“We have 12 skaters in Gravity Juveniles, and six in Gravity Beginners,” said Taylor, who coaches both teams. “We can have up to 16 skaters on each team, and we need eight per team. So we are looking for new members. Beginners just need to be able to skate forward, and be able to stop.”
Money raised during this weekend’s Colour Fun Run will also help the synchro teams, she added.
“It’s an expensive little sport,” said Taylor, who will be based at the Shamrock Centre during the Fun Run event. “We have coaching fees, costumes, ice fees, and competition registration fees. But everyone has a wonderful time, and it’s a beautiful sport.”
COLOUR BOMBING PRACTISE – Some of the Killarney Figure Skating members are pictured trying out the colours in advance for this Sunday’s Colour Fun Run at the Shamrock Centre, starting at 1 p.m.
ORANGE AND PURPLE PALETTE – Pictured after a colour bombing ‘trial’ are figure skating club members and participants, who will all be running on Sunday’s five-kilometre Colour Fun Run fundraiser at the Shamrock Centre.