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New White Rock half-marathon aimed at families

Semiahmoo Water’s Edge half-marathon and 10K run set for April 12
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Jonathan Kisiloski – one of the organizers of April’s Semiahmoo Water’s Edge Half Marathon and 10K Run – holds his daughter Mackenzie

A new event for the Semiahmoo Peninsula aims to channel the athletic enthusiasm of local runners of all ages into a positive, family-friendly fundraiser with a global, youth-oriented perspective.

The Semiahmoo Water’s Edge Half Marathon and 10K Run – scheduled for Sunday, April 12, is a BC Athletics-sanctioned-event presented by Pearl Izumi, with Peace Arch News as its principal media sponsor.

The half-marathon route (21.11 km) will start just east of the pier and travel east along the promenade, before looping up through uptown White Rock, heading west  to Ocean Park, then returning along Marine Drive to a finish line in Bayview Park on West Beach.

The 10-km route, for those not yet ready to run the full distance, is a scenic loop starting on the waterfront and then travelling through uptown White Rock on Thrift and North Bluff avenues, before returning to Marine Drive and Bayview Park.

Specific charities helped by the event will be Right To Play, a global organization that uses sports and games to teach essential life skills to children to help them overcome the  effects of poverty, conflict and disease; and Impossible2Possible (i2P) which encourages youth to reach beyond perceived limits, using adventure to cultivate future leaders who will call on direct experience and education in effecting social and environmental action across the world.

Although both runs will offer small prizes to the top three finishers in a range of age categories, race director Jonathan Kisiloski underlined that it’s not so much about competition with others as testing one’s own individual abilities.

“It’s about finding out what your body is capable of – but you also get to run with other athletes and friends and family,” he said

Kisiloski said he and his partners in the newly formed organizing non-profit, Race Pace Events (including his wife, Kirsten), bring to the table not only their own personal enthusiasm for marathons, triathlons and other running events, but also a range of experience and skills in project management, the insurance industry and the organizing the logistics of similar events.

And they want to ensure that it’s a credible challenge for athletes, as well as an opportunity for the whole community to get involved in a fun event.

“There hasn’t been anything like this locally for a while,” he said. “We’ve seen a bit of a lack in the market place for a real athlete-driven event, a good family-focus quality event. We decided to form Race Pace Events to fulfill this need.”

The choice of charities was a natural, given the principals’ interests, Kisiloski said.

“We love the way Right To Play brings sports to kids who can’t necessarily afford it and the way Impossible2Possible ties in sports with an educational element to develop life skills.”

And while negotiating necessary permits for the events has led to some organizational delays, Kisiloski said Race Pace Events is are expecting between 300 and 500 athletes to register for the initial event, planned as the first of an annual series.

“We’ve had great co-operation from both Surrey and White Rock, and we’ve been getting a really immediate response from local businesses. We’ve gone door-to door with businesses along the run routes and a lot of them are very excited, because they realize it will bring a lot of positive things to the area.”

Kisiloski said run participants and families will be encouraged to stay in the area following the run to appreciate the aesthetics of Semiahmoo Bay – and patronize the many local restaurants.

“Another great thing is that Surrey Search and Rescue will be providing medical support for the event, and we will be donating to them,” Kisiloski said.

“And another of our sponsors, Main Road, will be doing traffic control for the run day.”

For more information on registering to run in the Semiahmoo Water’s Edge Half Marathon and 10K Run, or for volunteer opportunities or other ways to become involved, visit www.racepaceevents.ca