A beautiful Saturday morning greeted 95 participants in the 5K Fun Run March 23. But as runners came off the Condensary Bridge towards the finish line, all they could see was smoke and flashing lights because the Cona Hostel was in flames.
Volunteers and runners kept the finish as orderly as possible. The awards ceremony which usually follows the run was canceled as event organizers worked to clear the area for firefighters. The food ordered to celebrate the runners was given to emergency crews.
The run was the finale of the 10-week Comox Valley Road Runners 5K Clinic held every January to March. The first man to finish was Christian Langmann in a time of 23:20. The first woman was Danielle Franceschini in 23:42. The fastest clinic man was Sean Woods in 24:46 and top woman was Kelly Thomas in 26:45. Complete results can be found on the CVRR 5k Running Clinic Facebook site.
More than 40 volunteers donated their Saturday mornings for 10 weeks to make the clinic possible. Their dedication adds up to 1,200 hours spent on the love of running.
www.cvrr.ca