After a prosperous Law Enforcement Torch Run in Chatham over the weekend, organizers are already looking ahead to next year.
Constable Jason Herder said the run at Kingston Park on Saturday raised $10,215 for Special Olympics Ontario. The money raised is a significant increase compared to last year's run, which raised about $2,000.
"I was definitely blown away," he said. "It was an excellent turnout."
Herder said in the past, a lot of the money raised for the torch run was through selling t-shirts and then the run itself would act as more of an awareness campaign. This year, however, they changed it up by creating a chip-timed run – a way to accurately measure the time it takes for a runner to go from the starting gate to the finish line.
"What I thought we would do this year is kind of bring both together and bring more awareness and get more people involved in exactly what we do for Special Olympics," said Herder. "Obviously the fundraising level shows that we were definitely able to broaden our horizons in engaging with community partners."
Although the annual event has taken place in Chatham-Kent for over 30 years, Herder said this year was the first time they timed it, which really appealed to some participants. Looking ahead to future fundraisers, Herder said they'll continue with the chip-timed run, but might consider switching the dates.
"We're not sure if we're going to continue using Father's Day weekend or if we're going to change the date to earlier in the season, given that we're going to do the chip-timed run again but we're definitely already starting to make our plans for next year," he said.
About 70 people pre-registered for the run, but by the end of the day, just over 80 participants took part.