THUNDER BAY — The Take it in Strides glow run saw about 80 people show support for mental health and suicide prevention.
The glow run, organized by Confederation College students, was held at Marina Park on Friday night, with an after party at Pocketchange bar.
“I'm running because I think raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention is really important. Exercise is super important with mental health as well and I love running for my mental health, so I think it's really important that people are getting out and active,” said Olivia Dupuis, who ran in the glow run.
“This is a great way to bring people out and get them active and also raise awareness for suicide prevention.”
Dupuis raised $550 for the glow run on Friday.
“It's really nice to know that people were willing to donate as much as they did to such a good cause and that I was able to let them know about it too. Otherwise, they probably would have never thought to donate.
“I feel like it's just not a really big talked about thing, suicide prevention, so this way as much money as we can put towards it, we can spread more awareness and get more resources,” she said.
Connor Remus, co-founder of the Take It in Strides run in Thunder Bay, said the response has been fantastic from the community.
“We're expected to have almost 80 people come out and do this glow run.
“To be completely honest, this event has been put on by Confederation College and the marketing students. They approached me as an initiative to help support the run that happens in September. They wanted to have a halfway to fun run, early registration launch, and this is what they came up with,” he said.
The glow run is based on fun, he said.
“You’re out here just to support a great cause, and we're all here to glow, light up the darkness is the concept, and just talk about mental health and suicide prevention, bring the awareness to it, talk about breaking the stigma, and then just be here and have a good time.”
Remus said with the community’s response along with online registration, he’s aiming high for this year’s run in September.
“With the expectation of what we had the first year, which was about 350 people, last year over 400, including online registration - I'm expecting 500."
Remus added that runners in the region can join in remotely as well.
Registration is open for the Take it in strides run on Sept. 7. And there is an early bird code that is available on the website, which has more information.
