It’s been 30 years, it’s the biggest in Canada, it’s why we are such a fit city.
.
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This year the Sun Run attracted 40,000 who walked or ran the 10-K course around False Creek. More extraordinarily, though, a study reported that almost a quarter of the population of Metro Vancouver has participated over its three-decade, um, run.
It took two hours for all the participants to pass through the intersection where I live – and they seemed to represent every age and ethnicity from every part of the region.
The appeal of the run, I think, is that it can be done individually or in groups, walked or run, trained for with commitment or just enjoyed at the last minute. And it doesn’t take a lot of money or equipment: your time, your shoes and the city itself.
It may well be that the political commitment (expressed in the property taxes we’re willing to pay) for the infrastructure of active recreation is a consequence in no small part of the Sun Run – the many tens of thousands who had an experience that made them feel better about themselves and their city, and now want more of that.
It’s why it’s a mistake to ridicule or discount the changes that allow us to move through the city on feet and self-propelled wheels. The same weekend the Sun Run occurred, the first civic poll came out: the Greens, I see, are doing better than the NPA, the party that has committed itself to putting through-traffic back on Point Grey Road, degrading a piece of infrastructure that allows people to safely and pleasurably walk, run, skate, cycle, push and propel themselves in the City as Workout.
There’s a message there.
Wow! Look at all those people–great shot! How nice it is to see so many individuals out having a good time getting fit in our urban environment.
Yes, and two things to notice:
(1) bus 5 and 6 were running as usual…Now try to picture what could be their route with both Georgia and Robson closed…
(2) see how the Georgia street airspace is used…all that couldn’t be possible with a trolleywire…
BTW a reason why Georgia is bereft of trolley wire (and streetcar track before): it is our ceremonial street..and we not only need to keep it as such – to allow events such as the Sun run or other mass gathering to happen in the city “drawing room”- but also need to enhance it.. Unfortunately the current council seems ready to put its ceremonial status under threat.