The Alexanders are doing their part to get Okotokians of all ages and fitness levels moving.
David, his wife Angie and daughter Molly launched the Sheep River parkrun in early September, a free, five-kilometre run/walk held every Saturday morning on the Town of Okotoks’ extensive pathway network.
Hosted under the global parkrun banner, David, 55, says the concept behind the weekly run, which begins and ends at the picnic shelter in Sheep River Park, is that it’s suitable for all ages and fitness levels. He says all levels of runners, joggers and walkers are welcome, as are parents pushing strollers and pets on leash.
David’s love for running began during his school days in England and continued after he joined the military, eventually leading him to compete in marathons, ultra-marathons and Ironman races.
“It gives me time to be on my own, clear my head of any problems I might have and clearly consider what’s going on in my world,” he says. “It just gives me that me time.”
Before the family immigrated to Canada in 2016, David did some online research on the running community is his new hometown of Medicine Hat.
“I realized that if my family and I wanted to assimilate into society, we needed to find like-minded people, so I joined the Mad Hatters (running club) in Medicine Hat,” he says.
David says as people get older, the dynamics of a running club often change, which led him and Molly to launch parkrun in Medicine Hat in 2019.
“There's always that younger generation that feels they can run faster or run further and don’t necessarily want to mix with the older runners,” he says. “That’s where parkrun comes in. It never ages.”
Founded in England in 2004 where it’s very well known, parkrun has expanded exponentially over the ensuing two decades and now has weekly runs in thousands of places throughout the globe involving millions of participants.
David says he believes parkrun helped bring the running community together in Medicine Hat and that’s what they’re trying to do now in Okotoks after relocating here a couple of years ago.
Molly says she was excited to be involved in the launch of another edition of parkrun.
“It has been an amazing thing to see people in the community come together,” says the 23-year-old, who works full-time educator at a daycare in Okotoks. “It has also been really nice to be able to spend some quality time with my family with something we all like to do.”
She says it’s been nice to have families come to parkrun as a group or to see family members waiting at the finish line to cheer on participants.
“(It) makes me think of my past experience with my dad and cheering him on at his running events,” she says. “Seeing all the happy faces come to get their barcode scanned at the end of the event makes it worth it.”
The Sheep River parkrun averaged 55 participants for its first few weeks, but after snow fell and temperatures dropped, so too did the number of runners.
“If we can keep it between 50 and 100 in summer months, that would be great,” says David. “I'm a total realist, so in the winter, we might just have two people show up, but we’ll keep it going. I want people to know they can just show up.”
He says the only reason it wouldn’t take place is if conditions were unsafe.
Participants have ranged from an 11-year-old regular to others who are looking to get active again, but David says the biggest endorsement of the Sheep River parkrun thus far has been having ultra marathoner Dave Proctor take part.
“As far as the echelons of runners in Canada go, I’m going to say he’s at the very top, so if he’s happy to come down and run, then anyone (should),” David says of Proctor, who set a record last summer by running across Canada in just 67 days.
David is the outward face of Sheep River parkrun, briefing participants at the picnic shelter and counting them down at the starting line, but it’s tech-savvy, 20-something Molly who is the star behind the scenes.
Not only does she scan barcodes to record participants’ times, but then she uploads all the results to parkrun’s global website so runners can compare their times with others around the world.
“When we first started parkrun in Medicine Hat, many thought that everything was just automatic. One memory I think of quite often is when me and my dad were sitting in the cafe having coffee, hot chocolate for me, with a group after a parkrun event and one member in our group was looking at their phone talking about how the results aren’t up yet and that there must be something wrong with the system,” says Molly.
“Me and my dad looked at each other and laughed. My dad then went on to say how there were no results yet because I was sitting having hot chocolate with everyone.”
Molly also uploads photos to Facebook and Instagram, answers emails throughout the week and keeps the volunteer roster up to date.
David says Molly’s dedication to parkrun was on full view back in early 2020 when she was stuck in England after COVID-19 hit, which forced her to coordinate the Medicine Hat results from the UK for three months.
Angie, who was a runner in her younger days, has carved out a role as a parkrun tail walker, which sees her at the back of the pack to ensure all make it around the course safely.
She gravitated to the role in Medicine Hat and has continued to volunteer in that capacity with the Okotoks run, although she does have one caveat.
“When we started Medicine Hat and it was going down to –25, she said, ‘We’re crazy, I’m not tail walking,’” jokes her husband.
David says his wife and daughter have been supportive of not only parkrun, but of his time spent pounding the pavement.
“I like to think of myself as his number one fan,” says Molly. “I've always loved my dad’s passion for running. He is always up for a run no matter what the weather. He has always been a runner and I have lots of memories of going to his running and triathlons cheering him on, waving as he runs past the finish line.
“It has been something we have grown to love together; we go out on runs, walks, bike rides, swimming together, it’s just our thing.”
Molly says she’s hopeful that more volunteers will step up so she and her dad can actually participate in parkrun.
“It’s my personal goal to get some volunteers to do the run director position a few times so I can get my dad running again. I know he can’t wait to; he gets to run the event beforehand to check everything is safe and the event can take place, but I'd really like to get him to do it officially.”
Parkrun didn’t make it across the Atlantic to Canada until 2016 and the Sheep River edition is the eighth in Alberta.
David says there will never be a cost to participate., adding parkrun’s slogan — ‘Free, for everyone, forever’ — will always apply.
Those wanting to participate in parkrun are encouraged to register at parkrun.ca where they will be issued a barcode that’s scanned to record times. To find out more about the local event, visit sheepriverparkrun.ca or follow the run on Facebook and Instagram.
