Winterman race director Peter Devanney and director of recruiting Jack Ricou. They say this truck is due to be replaced this year.
Whether it’s freezing temperatures, blowing snow, or icy roads, the weather will not stop this weekend’s Winterman marathon.
Extreme weather is nothing new for the people of Search and Rescue Global 1, a local group that organizes the popular event which caps off Winterlude’s final weekend.
This year marks the fourth annual Winterman marathon in which participants can run full or part marathons to raise money for SAR1, a volunteer group thatprovides emergency search and rescue assistance in the OttawaGatineau region.
“Without the Winterman marathon, the team would be operating on a very different scale,” says Peter Devanney, the race director and member of SAR1.
“The revenue from the event plays a significant role in our day-to-day from insurance, to communication technology to fuel costs.”
SAR1 and its 120 members respond to several incidents of missing persons per year along with providing other emergency response help to local authorities.
In the past two years, SAR1 has been contacted for assistance over 20 times to help with missing persons searches and help out during the flooding of the Richelieu River.
The organization has grown in large part because of the Winterman, which this year, Devanney hopes will help SAR1 purchase a new fire department rescue truck.
“We’re now in the process of working to get a new command and control vehicle for our team,” says Devanney.
The group bought its first vehicle, a retired fire department rescue truck, three years ago following the inaugural Winterman run and Devanney says it is time for an upgrade.
“It was a significant leap in terms of response time and also gave us a place to manage a search out of, but now the team has outgrown the vehicle,” says Devanney.
The founder of SAR1, Beverly Pick, is no longer involved in the group’s day-to-day operations but says she is extremely proud of where it is now.
“The organization has grown in leaps and bounds,” says Pick.
“(From the time I was involved) management has taken it to a level that was only a dream at its inception.”
Pick founded SAR1 in 1996 following two separate tragedies.
Her son Richard disappeared in 1994 during a hike on Vancouver Island. He was never found despite a huge search effort, including Pick spending a year and a half heading a search.
The next incident was in late 1995 when a man disappeared in Western Quebec and local police asked for volunteers to assist the search. Pick volunteered and quickly saw that volunteers required some level of training in order to work effectively with police.
Pick was nominated last fall by SAR1 members for the Prime Minister’s Volunteer Award for her work in creating the group.
“I’m very humbled by it,” says Pick. “I don’t think I did anything different than anybody else would’ve. I’m honoured that they put my name forward.”
As for this year’s marathon, most of the SAR1 team will be there. They will be volunteering along the course as race marshals and operating four first-aid stations along the route.
They will be checking for competitors struggling with the conditions or the run.
Chris Macknie is a veteran marathon runner who ran the Winterman two years ago and placed third. Macknie says he prefers to run in the summer but enjoyed the winter experience.
“It was a real Winterman day,” says Macknie. “We had blowing snow, but the elements that day were befitting the name. It was a fun time.”
Devanney says he expects this year to be the largest Winterman yet, with registration on pace to easily surpass last year’s 1,300 participants.