Historic Niagara charitable relay race seeks new runners to keep tradition alive

A Thanksgiving relay-race tradition hit the Niagara River Parkway today, and organizers are hoping to keep the historic event alive.

Runners push themselves to finish the final leg of a 20-kilometre relay race urged on by their teammates.

“It felt awesome,” says one race finisher.

“It feels fantastic having all those guys coming out of the finish banner with you,” says another runner.

“It was kind of cold, but other than that it was pretty good,” adds a young girl who participated.

These runners took part in a historic race called Man-a-Mile.

The relay race starts at Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake and finishes at Oakes Park in Niagara Falls, with 14 baton hand-offs along the way.

This year there were five teams — all with their own reason for running.

“This was dedicated to Ron. We got into a terrible crash here at Man-a-Mile three years ago and he passed away. Redemption all the way,” says a racer.

“I don’t race much anymore, but I will always come down to do this race,” says another participant.

And for some, what motivates them to cross the finish line is very simple: their love of running.

This year’s winner was a team of students from Brock University who finished the race with a time of 1:41:41.

“This is our fourth year. It is a run for charity but we still just like running. In our minds, we like to run a little bit competitive,” says one of the students.

The race has been around for a long time. It started up in 1922 and has been a tradition ever since.

And one of the trophies has been here since the beginning.

“It started out as an inter-city competition as a relay race from St. Catharines City Hall to Niagara Falls City Hall,” says race organizer David Trotter.

Trotter has been involved in the race for years.

He says they have been fighting to get more people out every year to keep it going.

“It’s unique. It’s not just like running a 5-k or a 10-k event or a half marathon. It’s coordinating an event where you have 14 runners and drivers and drop-off points, and a relay,” emphasizes Trotter.

Trotter says all the money raised at the event goes back into the community.

“We’ve supported Bridges for Autism, the St. John Ambulance Niagara region … we supported arthritis one year,” Trotter adds.

The event happens every Thanksgiving day.

It’s a small piece of Niagara history still running strong.