Increased interest in running in Windsor-Essex

The amount of people running in Windsor is growing. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco has more.

There has been increased interest in running in Windsor-Essex lately.

Kyle McCamon runs with different groups and says he has seen the running community grow steadily since the end of the pandemic.

“Run groups seem to have given people a chance to get active and healthy and physical,” McCamon told CTV News.

“Monday through Sunday you have anywhere from Blue Heron Hill doing workouts to the county, for Shores of Erie doing runs throughout Harrow, Kingsville, Leamington to Friday night at Walkerville, DubCity, Ford City, Sandwich. You pick an area of the city and there’s something going on there.”

Jen Dobbin joined The Sandwich Beer Runners for the first time this week. They gather every Tuesday at the Sandwich Brewing Company.

“I’ve been running for four or five years now so decided to join this group and get into the neighbourhood community,” said Dobbin, who lives in the neighbourhood.

Steve Stainer enjoys the social aspect of the group.

“I’ve met a lot of new friends coming out here and I come out here every Tuesday. It’s a great time.”

According to McCamon there are 12 running groups in the region and two of them begin on Drouillard Road. One group gathers Tuesdays at 6 p.m. at the Cookie Bar while the other gets together Saturday mornings at Chance Coffee at 9 a.m.

The Sandwich group also extends goodwill to the community holding bottle, clothing and shoe drives.

“You’d almost naturally look for a purpose if you have a lot of people showing up every week. You feel like oh we should do something,” said Jason Skillings, co-ordinator of the group.

His group and many others take it a step further signing up for local charity runs.

“They’re selling out faster than ever, so I definitely think there’s a lot of interest in the area for charity runs,” said Gary Belanger, owner of The Running Factory, who host three run events a year.

Dave Orshinsky is a familiar face on the running event circuit. He said there was an increase of interest in run events last year and is taken aback by the continued growth.

“They’ve been selling out two to three months in advance which was not the case last year,” said Orchinsky, who is helping to organize Saturday’s Jonesy Run at Lakewood Park in Tecumseh supporting the ALS Association.

“Because of the popularity we’re starting to see a lot more new runs pop up or walks and that’s because everybody knows there are a lot more people out there willing to help.”