Earlier this month, Community Links in Airdrie, alongside a local running company, held the first in-person Legacy Run to End Family Violence since 2019. 

Ten years ago, Andrea Conroy, an Airdrie mom and good friend to many was murdered by her boyfriend. Her tragic death shocked the community and brought the topic of family violence to the forefront of conversations. In her honour, Airdrie’s community would start the Legacy Run to End Family Violence.    

Laurie Jacob-Toews, the Community Engagement Services Manager with Community Links, says the turnout for the event was beyond her expectations.  

“We were super happy that we were almost at the same level of participation that we've been in previous years. We had 177 registered runners including our kid's race, which was new this year. It was super cute.’ 

The new kid's race was a two-kilometre loop around East Lake. The adult run consisted of a 5k, a 10k, and a half marathon.  

According to Jacob-Toews, people seemed very excited to be there. For a lot of people, it was their first race that they had done in two years. 

“We had one lady who did our half marathon, who moved to South from South Africa in 2020 and had never raced in Canada. This was her first race in Canada.” 

Although the final number of donations has not been confirmed due to some final expenses, Jacob-Toews does have some preliminary numbers. 

“People have the option, when they register, to donate. We had over $2,200 just in donations. So, in addition to people's registration fees, they donated $2,200.” 

To top off the event, everybody who finished received a special prize. 

“Everyone got a finisher medal. In the past, only our top three in the 5k and 10k got a medal and every half marathon participant got them. This year we did medals for everyone, including the kid racers, they were all very excited.” 

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