Lace up your sneakers, because Collingwood’s 10K is coming back this fall with new leadership.
The inaugural Collingwood 10K event will be running Oct. 22 along Collingwood’s waterfront. Mark Bechtel, co-owner of VO2 Sports Co. with his brother Sean, are the new organizers of the 10-kilometre race.
While the Collingwood Half Marathon and 10K used to be a fall staple in town, the event was put on hold during COVID-19, and Bechtel says there was an opening for new leadership coming out of the pandemic.
“It had good participation,” Bechtel told CollingwoodToday. “We knew there was a void left. We decided to try to take it on ourselves.”
Bechtel says he always had a vision of having the start line for the race on Hurontario, so he has worked with the Collingwood BIA to have the start and finish on Side Launch Way. The route will hit local landmarks along the waterfront such as Sunset Point, the Terminals, and weave through Collingwood’s trails.
“We knew there was a market here and we have a big running community behind us. It was fitting for us to organize this,” he said.
All profits from the race will be evenly divided between local youth sports organizations that volunteer on race day and Jack.org in support of mental health.
“Putting money into youth sport is great for so many reasons. It makes sports more accessible for a lot of people,” said Bechtel. “My brother and I grew up playing youth sports and we know how big of an impact it had on us.”
Bechtel says he’s expecting between 250 and 300 people to register this year, and hopes to grow the event over time to possibly include events for kids.
“We’d like to get the whole community involved,” he said. “There hasn’t been a race here for about three years. For a big town like this, we needed something.”
For more information on the Collingwood 10K or to register, click here.
