Great turnout for annual Ben Sheardown Memorial Race

Students and teachers at F.H. Collins Secondary School combined exercise with charity on Wednesday by participating in the annual Ben Sheardown Memorial Race.

Students and teachers at F.H. Collins Secondary School combined exercise with charity on Wednesday by participating in the annual Ben Sheardown Memorial Race.
In total 14 teams took part in the event, which was 5-km in length and used the Millennium Trail as its course.
“The best part is just watching the staff and the students all working together towards a good cause,“ said F.H. Collins vice-principal Bruce Thomson, who also participated in Wednesday’s run.

“We just try to get as much participation as we can.“
Ben Sheardown was a teacher, councillor, coach and mentor to many students during his tenure at F.H. Collins.

He passed away prematurely after losing a battle to cancer. Sheardown taught at F.H. Collins up until his death.
The memorial race has a great deal of history in Whitehorse.

Before it was named in Sheardown’s honour, the race was a charity run, which has been held for approximately 20 years.

The run used to donate the funds to a variety of different social causes.
However, since Sheardown’s passing, this event has donated all proceeds to the Ben Sheardown Memorial Fund.

The fund helps support students, in the territory, who are attending post secondary school. Another purpose of the run is to raise awareness for cancer in the community.
Teams at the run are comprised of at least 10 individuals, who each donate $2 to participate. The memorial run usually averages $500 to $700 each year that it is held.
Traditionally teachers in the race usually form a couple of teams, while students make up for the majority of the participants.

Teams can be made up of both students and teachers as well. The Sheardown race is also open to anyone in the community who is interested in participating.
At the end of the race, all of the teams who have had every member successfully complete the race and signed in at the finish line are entered into a draw for customized T-shirts, commemorating the memorial run. Individuals on the team also don’t have to finish the race at the same time.
All individuals are timed at the event. The top male and female student times are record as well as the fastest male and female teacher times.
This year’s fastest male student time was Logan Roots, who finished the race at 19:51, while Dahria Beatty wasted little time completing the race with her time of 22:15. Doug Petriw won bragging rights over the other male teachers with a time of 23:51, while Jennifer Bonny’s time of 28:15 won her the top spot among all of F.H. Collins female teachers.
The winning team for the T-shirt draw was Team Close/Sheardown.
One of the unique aspects of the memorial race is how it offers participants the use of a wide variety of methods to participate.

The different methods include running, biking, rollerblading and even skateboarding.

Each individual on the team can race the event however they choose to do so.
Thomson said there are more than a few benefits to participating in the memorial run.
“It’s important to remember some causes of cancer for instance and things like that; that the kids here can contribute to in a fairly easy way.“