Eastside 10k looks to top last year as runners hit the streets of DTES
Posted September 15, 2018 8:54 am.
Last Updated September 15, 2018 11:02 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A plethora of runners were up bright and early this morning for the Under Armour Eastside 10k, a race that takes people through the heart of the Downtown Eastside.
On the men’s side, reigning Canadian marathon champion Trevor Hofbauer comfortably won the sixth annual event. Natasha Wodak took home her second victory at Eastside on the women’s side.
“I felt strong out there from start to finish,” Hofbauer said following the race.
Wodak added the race was a fun one to run.
“I wanted to Kill the Hill so that’s where I made my move,” she said. I pushed hard form there and was able to win.”
The Eastside 10k serves as a major fundraiser for some charities on the Downtown Eastside.
“We’re hoping to break our charity record this year, so we’re kind of zeroing in on the $30,000 marker for these charities this year,” Race Director Ryan Chilibeck says. “It’s looking good so far, but I don’t want to jinx anything.”
So far, more than $27,000 has been raised, but participants have until Oct. 1st to continue raising money.
The Eastside 10k has a big focus on the Downtown Eastside and giving back to the area, Chilibeck explains.
“We work with three charity partners that are based in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and really push the fundraising specifically to those charities. So they would be the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, PHS Community Service Society, and the Downtown Eastside Women’s Center.”
Chilibeck says all three groups have done their own fundraising efforts, and the money is split accordingly.
“There’s one or two charities that are ahead of the other ones,” he says. “Like the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre is pretty heavily involved in the running community, so they get a lot of additional support from the runners that come in. But for the most part, it’s just been registration. When people are registering for the event, they just topped up their registration, they add a bit of money to go towards one of the charities specifically.”
He says it’s been interesting to see how the runners have responded, and to see how much money each person has raised.
The race sold out on Friday, bringing the total number of participants this year to 3,200 and making this race the biggest of the series so far.
“In previous years we’ve had 2,700, so we’ve increased it this year and we’ve sold out,” he adds.
While it may be raining, Chilibeck says it’s not as bad as it was some years ago, when he describes “torrential rainstorms” over the Eastside 10k weekend.
Road closures in effect for the Under Armour Eastside 10k. (Courtesy Canada Running Series)
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-With files from Tim James
