The 2018 April Fools’ Run had special meaning for Special Olympics BC on the Sunshine Coast. On Sunday, April 8, four SOBC track and field athletes, Amber Maher, Genny Verge, Bruce Stuart, and Micheal Oswald, put all their hard work together after weeks of training with coach Tania Finnigan in anticipation of the race. Each SOBC athlete ran one leg of the total 21.1-kilometre relay.
The race began on Park Road in Gibsons and finished at Mission Point Park in Davis Bay. It’s thanks to athlete Stuart that coach Finnigan thought to include the other three. Stuart, like Finnigan, is an avid runner who has competed for many years. Stuart wanted to run in this year’s April Fools' Run so Finnigan figured it would be a great chance for the other track and fielders to gain some experience in long distance running. Training began in March with the coach and four athletes meeting weekly to run 5 km as a team. It gave all of them the chance to bond as a unit, who dubbed themselves the Coast Cannons, and to see first-hand the effects of distance running.
This activity blends perfectly with SOBC Sports Consultant Jacques Thibault’s view that athletes who train on their own time in their preferred sports gain better knowledge, understanding, and ultimately inability. Maher is a spitfire on the track. A sprinter by nature, she has gone to BC Games as well as the 2017 Provincial Games in Kamloops. She has done very well and continues to exceed all expectations. Verge is also a BC Games and Provincial Games attendee who has the fortune to be on her way to the 2018 National Games in Antigonish, Nova Scotia this summer. She is a swimmer who has launched into running and track as a form of cross-training. Oswald is a swimmer and runner who has seen provincial competition twice, once in 2013 and again in 2018. He, like Maher, is a sprinter but through his experiences running with Stuart, is slowly learning the art of endurance running. Finnigan has been coaching track and field for many years and also instructs Club Fit with many SOSC athletes each Monday morning from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Gibson’s Rec Centre.
The success of this first venture has the Coast Cannons considering that their next challenge might be to run the 10 km Four Lakes Run later this summer. Go Special O!
Michael Oswald
The race began on Park Road in Gibsons and finished at Mission Point Park in Davis Bay. It’s thanks to athlete Stuart that coach Finnigan thought to include the other three. Stuart, like Finnigan, is an avid runner who has competed for many years. Stuart wanted to run in this year’s April Fools' Run so Finnigan figured it would be a great chance for the other track and fielders to gain some experience in long distance running. Training began in March with the coach and four athletes meeting weekly to run 5 km as a team. It gave all of them the chance to bond as a unit, who dubbed themselves the Coast Cannons, and to see first-hand the effects of distance running.
This activity blends perfectly with SOBC Sports Consultant Jacques Thibault’s view that athletes who train on their own time in their preferred sports gain better knowledge, understanding, and ultimately inability. Maher is a spitfire on the track. A sprinter by nature, she has gone to BC Games as well as the 2017 Provincial Games in Kamloops. She has done very well and continues to exceed all expectations. Verge is also a BC Games and Provincial Games attendee who has the fortune to be on her way to the 2018 National Games in Antigonish, Nova Scotia this summer. She is a swimmer who has launched into running and track as a form of cross-training. Oswald is a swimmer and runner who has seen provincial competition twice, once in 2013 and again in 2018. He, like Maher, is a sprinter but through his experiences running with Stuart, is slowly learning the art of endurance running. Finnigan has been coaching track and field for many years and also instructs Club Fit with many SOSC athletes each Monday morning from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Gibson’s Rec Centre.
The success of this first venture has the Coast Cannons considering that their next challenge might be to run the 10 km Four Lakes Run later this summer. Go Special O!
Michael Oswald
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