The rain didn't dampen any students' spirits last Friday, as 10 schools took part in the fourteenth annual Wind Runners race in Saddle Lake.
Hosted by Onchaminahos School, the 5 km relay race drew in schools from across the region. Each school had two teams competing, with each runner completing a 1 km jaunt. Jayme Fougere, gym teacher at Onchaminahos School was thrilled by the effort shown by his students.
"It went awesome. This is the hardest my kids have ever worked. I even had one of my students that started it off that ran the whole 5 km, and I've never had any kid do that before."
Onchaminahos first team crossed the finish line in fifth place. Fougere says they start training for the run in November, and that this year's run had the most schools participating.
Onchaminahos School principal Vera Cardinal explained the history of the run.
"We started this race in 2005 as maybe just two or three schools, but now we're growing. It's really exciting for others to come join us and visit us."
Cardinal says the origin of Wind Runners Race came when the school was "refused entry" to a race in Edmonton years ago. She said she has "no idea" why they weren't allowed to compete in the race that year, but Wind Runners was born shortly after.
Results from Friday's event include:
1st - Elk Point Elementary
2nd - St. Paul Elementary
3rd - St. Paul Elementary
