PRESCOTT -- The fourth annual Fort Town Night Run, a summer staple in the eastern Ontario town of Prescott, is the latest event forced to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originally scheduled for May 2, race director Michel Larose postponed it until Sept. 26.
"In March, I started working with race directors around North America and we were told at the Athletics Ontario Race Director Conference that it was small races that were going to bring back confidence in runners coming back to the bigger races," said Larose during an interview with CTV News Ottawa while standing near the event start line.
"So we started looking at protocols to make sure we could make this safe, (such as) you bring down the contact points, do contact tracing and we put that all in a 35 page document."
Larose adds, "In mid-June we had talked to the health unit, the Town of Prescott, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Township of Edwardsburg/Carinal and everybody was in favour. We had the protocols in place to keep everybody safe and make sure that the town was safe."
The run was changed so instead of 400 participants starting at once, two people would start the course every two-and-a-half minutes, beginning at 8 a.m. and going straight to 8:30 p.m.
However, due to rising cases of COVID-19 outside of Prescott, the health unit and the town were worried someone carrying the virus could bring it to the area.
"With COVID having hotspots, we have a lot of people coming from Ottawa, Toronto, Midland, from all kinds of regions. The Town of Prescott and the health unit felt that it was safer if we did not have everybody coming in. They didn't want to have so many people coming from out of town in town," said Larose.
Volunteer coordinator Julie Larose said it was an extremely difficult decision to cancel the event.
"This has been thousands of hours of volunteer work being put into it. Between writing the safety protocols for COVID-19, advertising, giving individual start times to all the runners and collecting donations," said Julie Larose.
"it was very heartbreaking to make that decision because it’s not just about the runners, it’s also about the teenagers that are going to finally have a chance to participate in something for their volunteer hours and the community as well who are really looking forward to having an event going on."
The event provides fundraising opportunities for youth programs in the area like the Air Cadets, Scouts, the Venturer Scouts and the Brockville Figure Skating Club.
A total of 343 people had already registered for the event, which Michel Larose says has now been changed to a virtual run.
"The idea is for the next two weeks people can actually run around their own town or a lot of people here are running the course on their own," said Michel Larose.
"They are taking pictures and taking their time and are going to be sending it to us. We’re going to post it on our website and the idea is that it's informal, its a lot of fun."
Prizes will still be awarded for team spirit and best virtual spirit.
"The virtual run registration is staying open until Sunday night on the website, so you can sign up to participate in the virtual run or you can make a donation that way," said Julie Larose.
Stan Sinclair was looking forward to the race this year, but understands the cancellation.
"It is just the way it goes. In the last little while, especially in the last week or so with everything changing, it's unfortunate but that's the way it goes," said Sinclair.
"It really builds up the community spirit and you see the downtown businesses getting involved and all the local schools and the kids participating with volunteering and different things its helps out the community."
He is going to participate in the virtual run with his children and others on his street Sunday afternoon.
"It was a beautiful day today. It’s too bad that it was cancelled that’s for sure," said Sinclair.
Others down along the waterfront trail agreed that keeping Prescott safe was a top priority during the pandemic.
"I think it’s the right thing for the safety of everyone," said Mrs. Miller, enjoying the hot summer-like day.
"It can work both ways. It can come into the community or inadvertently it can be passed from the community, so I think for everyone sake, I think its the best decision."
"It may not be a popular decision but at this point and time in history i think its the safest decision for us,” said Miller.
Both Michel and Julie are thankful for the community support and the donations.
"I want to thank everybody who was part of this, from the volunteers to the trustees, our sponsors, we’ve had a lot of people help us out and when it went out that unfortunately we had to cancel at the last moment. We’ve had so much support," said Michel Larose.
"So many people actually understanding our situation and making note that next year they are going to come back."
Julie Larose added, "I definitely think that we touched something in people's hearts with planning, with showing Prescott’s strength in getting so close and the support that we’ve received from our community and also from the larger running community as well."
"I think that this event will be stronger if it comes back. We might start smaller, keep things safe until everything goes back to hopefully normal, but I do think that this run is different than a lot of other events.”
Julie Larose told CTV News Ottawa the hope is to invite people back to Prescott in the future for the event.
"Prescott is a beautiful town. We just want to share it with everybody so we’re hoping that when things clear up people will come and be able to enjoy the beautiful sights we have here."
For those looking to participate in the virtual run or donate to the youth movement project can do so at http://forttownnightrun.com/
