Tony Alter / CC

Hundreds of runners and walkers will flock to Grand Digue this weekend for the first event of the Run New Brunswick Super Series.

Organizer Kris Dupuis says 250 registered participants will walk or run five or fifteen kilometres on Saturday, April 29, “Locally for the most part, this is the event that just seems to be the one that kicks off the running season. It’s also the first event for Run New Brunswick Super Series. Runners can collect points at events throughout the province, so this is the race that kicks off that series as well.”

This is the 18th year for the run, but Dupuis says they had to cancel for two years because of COVID, “It was started in 2005 by Sylvio Bourque. He’s a well-known runner in the area and an even better-known arm wrestler actually.”

Bourque died in 2021, and he was honoured at the run in 2022.

“Last year, the event was sold out with almost 200 runners. This year we increased the capacity bid to 250 and we’re most sold out again. We’ve got about 10 spots left under 15k Run, and a couple of spots left on the 5k run portion of it,” Dupuis adds.

He says the weather is certainly looking a lot better for this year’s event when compared to last year.

Participants ran and walked in snow, wind and rain in 2022. This predicted forecast for this Saturday, is sunshine and around 12 degrees.

It also includes a community lunch and prizes for the top three males and females.

Dupuis says a portion of the funds are also donated to the community, “Over the past eight years, not including the two we missed due to COVID, we’ve donated more than $25,000 for children or families in need in the community.”

Registrations close on Thursday.