A group of Holy Trinity Academy students did some extra work after completing an Easter trip to Costa Rica to help out youths in an orphanage. They put in about 24 kilometres of roadwork.
Twelve Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) students ran from Okotoks to High River in the 10th annual Friendship Run in order to raise funds for a school in Costa Rica.
“We were in Costa Rica for 10 days and we went out and helped The Association for The Works of the Holy Spirit,” said HTA Grade 12 student Chad MacPherson who ran the entire 24 kilometres. “It was kind of an orphanage/church.”
Although working at the Association for the Works of the Holy Spirit was inspiring, it was a small school that tugged at the students’ and teachers’ hearts.
“On our travels we came across this one-room school,” said MacPherson said. “It was like plus 40 (degrees) and there was one teacher for Grades 1 to 6 and there was about 50 students. She (the teacher) was the principal, the janitor, she gives everything to those kids.”
So the students decided to give a little something back to the Costa Rican school.
Teacher Jason Krueger came up with the idea to raise money for the school. Teacher Jason Olynyk thought of the run.
“I knew about the Friendship Run so I talked to Norm (organizer Norm Brennand) and told him we would like to participate,” Olynyk said during an interview in an open field at approximately the 15km mark. “It was an ideal fit. It promotes good health and community — hopefully the kids will get addicted to running.”
Olynyk was weighed down with a cooking pot, which he beat with a spoon like Keith Moon on drums at periodic times along the scenic route. On the pot were the words: “Beat Poverty in Costa Rica.”
At the end of the run, the pot was passed around among the runners and was filled with more than $800 for the school.
Brennand said it was heart-warming to see the HTA students out on the route.
“It was nice to see them out there running to raise money and awareness for such a worthwhile cause,” Brennand said. “They also provided some youthful enthusiasm.”
He added the fact the new route, designed by Okotokian John MacKillop, was designed so runners were no longer on the busy highway between the two communities. He said in previous years having young runners was discouraged due to safety and liability issues.
The HTA students took full advantage of their chance to run.
The majority of the students completed the whole 24km — admittedly they were a bit beat by the end.
“I just play sports like basketball and soccer where you run for a little — this was quite the run,” MacPherson said. “I was almost dead —Zach (Vant Erve) kept me going… But you know to run 24km, and then come in here (Carlson’s on Macleod in High River) and have a nice glass of water and a nice meal those kids in Costa Rica don’t have very much, what we did wasn’t really anything.”
Janelle Ozimko, another HTA student who participated in the run, said getting support from her fellow students was important in her running the longest distance in her young life.
“I think another thing we learned in Costa Rica was encouragement and being there for each other,” she said.
The 12 HTA students running in the event were Max Bartnik, Angelia Espiritu, Justine Deardoff, Jacob Bryson, Peter Hillman, Riley Moss, MacPherson, Ozimko, Zach Vant Erve, Matt Vant Erve and Kyle Turner and Kyleigh Wyatt.
There were an estimated 106 runners and volunteers in this year’s Friendship Run. Next year’s run will go from High River to Okotoks.
