The hamlet of Langdon will be full of activity June 9 for the community’s third annual Langdon Walk/Run.
Sponsored and organized by the Langdon OK (Older Kids) Club, the initiative includes one-kilometre (km), five-km and 10-km options. The event starts and stops at the Langdon Field House deck, with runners looping around the hamlet’s park and some of its communities.
“I refer to it as the ‘little race that could,’” said Joanne Durant, a member of the Langdon OK Club and an organizer for the event. “We’re not as big as an awful lot of races, but we try to get the fun aspect and have something for everybody.”
In 2017, the inaugural Langdon Walk/Run saw 35 people participate, according to Durant. Involvement nearly doubled the following year, she added, despite poor weather.
“We’re building it a little more, every year,” she said. “The best part of it is just getting out there with all the people and doing something.”
The cost to register is $30 for ages 15 to 64, $25 for seniors and $20 for ages seven to 14. Kids under the age of seven can participate for free. The registration fee includes a kit bag and a burger or beef on a bun.
Proceeds from the event will support the Langdon OK Club, according to Durant.
“We’re sort of into doling [the proceeds] out here and there, supporting different things in the community while saving up some money so we can hopefully have a meeting place of our own, instead of always having to rent space,” she said.
The club, which is comprised of more than 50 members in Langdon, provides social and recreational activities to the community’s 55-and-older crowd.
“We do stretch exercises two mornings a week, we have lunch-and-learn sessions once a month, we have a potluck supper once a month, and otherwise, go for walks in the park and socialize,” Durant said. “We go to Rosebud occasionally, or sometimes Stage West. Some days, it might just be a picnic down by the river.”
To register for the 2019 Langdon Walk/Run, visit langdonokclub.com and follow the link at the top of the page. Free T-shirts will be supplied to those who register before May 28.
The walk/run will also include prizes for the fastest runners. Previous prizes included free passes to the Calgary Stampede, coupons for free haircuts, bottles of wine and free rounds of golf at a nearby course.
Durant said the club’s goal is to improve on the event in future years.
“We’d like to see it grow, so that instead of everyone going home at noon, we could have some ball games in the park – expand it some more to include some fun activities,” she said.
The 10-km portion kicks off at 9 a.m., with the five-km following at 9:15 a.m. and one-km at 11 a.m.
