A recent Foothills Composite graduate has ran her way to Lethbridge with the help of a stalwart Okotoks club.
Rosie Bouchard was awarded the $500 Big Rock Runners Scholarship on Aug. 3. She will attend Lethbridge College in the fall to study reusable resource management and will run on the Kodiaks cross-country and track teams.
Cash is nice, but the Big Rock Runners gave Bouchard skills which will last a lifetime.
"They mean everything — they helped me get better than I was," Bouchard said. "They helped me gain more confidence with running with other track athletes. They did things like speed training, when before when I just ran on my own, I would just do things like go run a 5K."
Bouchard was one of four initial members of the Okotoks Track and Cross-Country Club, which the Big Rock Runners started in 2017.
The club, which is for junior high and high school athletes, proved to be a helping hand for the Bouchard family.
"They really encouraged her, it has been really good," said Rosie's mother Rachael. "She also didn't have to do a commute to a club in Calgary."
OTCC also brightened the somewhat shy Rosie, who has developed friendships with the members and her fellow athletes.
"I have seen her confidence grow," Rachael said. "Even with her school work, it has helped her with that, because when you are confident it helps with everything."
Bouchard was not only one of the OTCC's first members, she was one of the reasons it got started.
The genesis of the club came when Big Rock Runners guru, the 79-year-old Richard Ellum — a former track coach at Foothills Comp — saw Bouchard win a bronze medal in the high school cross-country provincial championship in Cochrane during her Grade 10 year in 2016.
"The Calgary club coaches were there and they were after her because they could see the potential," Ellum said. "Parents, a teacher and myself didn't see why she had to travel to Calgary for training when we have good outdoor and indoor facilities in Okotoks.
"I said: 'I can work with her' and took the reins."
The club also had the expertise.
Big Rock Runners Mark Toombs, Wayne Gaudet and Ellum — all of whom have run the Boston Marathon — were the initial coaches for the four runners in the club.
Bouchard went on to snare the silver medal in 2017 at high school provincials as a Grade 11 student. She finished her high school cross-country career with a gold medal in the 5,000m at Vermilion last October — Ellum and Toombs made the trek to Lakeland Country to support her and the other OTCC runners.
She also won the gold and silver medal in the 3,000m at the high school track and field championships in her Grade 11 year.
The club not only helped Bouchard, it helped Ellum.
"I had been running for years and had to give up because of arthritis in my ankle," Ellum said. "I found it hard to be not running after all those years.
"Rosie came along at the right moment. Here's someone who has motivated me and now we have this group."
OTCC will kick off its fourth season on Aug. 19 at the track at Okotoks Junior High School and it has grown to more than 35 athletes.
The coaches, Toombs, Ellum and former Comp cross-country coach Jayni Caldwell are volunteers. The cost for athletes is $75 for the year to help pay for cost of the facilities when sessions move indoors at the Regional Field House in October.
The cost are kept down due to contributions from the Big Rock Runners Club.
For information about OTCC go to www.bigrockrunners.com/okotoks-track-crosscountry
Some of those funds that help pay for OTCC are raised through the Sheep River Road Race, which takes place on Sept. 14.
To register for the 2km (11 and under), 5km or 10km run go to www.bigrockrunners.com/sheep-river-road-race-2019.
The Big Rock Runners meet at 9 a.m. for informal runs at the Okotoks Recreation Centre on Saturdays.
