For Cassandra Taylor, the reward of completing the 5km Cinnamon Bun Fun Run Sunday morning was almost as sweet as the delectable treat waiting for her at the finish line.
“I gained all the calories I lost, but it was for a good cause,” she said.
Taylor and hundreds of others braved light rain to participate in the annual event, which raised a record 2,900 lbs. of food (600 lbs. more than last year) for the Ladysmith Food Bank, and saw 408 runners cross the finish line.
As is the fun run tradition, winners are determined not by finish time but by predicted time.
“I love this event because you never know who will win and this year was no exception,” said run co-director John Mountain. “We had families of four five and six, there were even extended families with grandma and gramps, and moms and dads and the kids... some walking and some running, but all participating and all in the running equally for the top prize.”
Predicting her 57:23 time within 66 hundreths of a second was Midge Smith for first place. Taking second place was Tracey Welch, with a difference of 1.3 seconds off her actual time of 28:54:03.
Young Carson Craven ran away with third prize after predicting a time 1.14 seconds under actual time of 48:36:86.
The Ladysmith Striders has organized the event, which takes place at Frank Jameson Community Centre, for the last seven years. Mountain said it would not be possible without support from local businesses, and the volunteers. This year’s event was manned by 50 dedicated volunteers.