JERICHO BEACH PARK
VANCOUVER, BC – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2015
February 26, 2015
To all of our friends, partners, & supporters;
It is with great excitement that the Whistler Spirit Run is moving to Vancouver!
We have a new date set for 2015 – Sunday, September 13th.
After 7 remarkable years, we have the opportunity to relocate our event to a new home at the spectacular park at Jericho Beach, where the Canadian Cross-Country Championships have been held for the last few years.
Our new website is www.vancouverspiritrun.com – registration is now open.
A Quick History
When we started exploring this idea about 10 years ago, it was the late Frank Reynolds that shared our vision to build a cross-country festival, similar to “The Great American Cross Country Festival” held in North Carolina each September. It would be an event that would offer world class competition, that attracted locals and competitors from afar, right here in our own backyard.
It was a journey that started with site visits to many different places in the Lower Mainland. Along the way we were introduced to Tim Gayda and John Aalberg, formerly with VANOC. They also shared our passion and had an Olympic “Legacy” pledge to carry forward.
Through a number of discussions, we were extremely fortunate to secure Whistler Olympic Park as our home and competition site in the heart of the Callaghan Valley. The infrastructure built for the Olympics was incredible, and the proximity to everything that you need in Whistler was superb. We were in fact, the first non-winter sport activity to take place at Whistler Olympic Park, in the fall of 2008 – 17 months before the actual 2010 games. A very special thanks to Lindsay Durno, John Heilig and the entire team at WOP for being such accommodating hosts.
Our first presenting sponsor was P.I. Financial and through their initial donation, we were on a solid footing that allowed us to start the event. After three years and an introduction to Rio Tinto Alcan, they became our main sponsor and have supported The Spirit Run in so many amazing ways.
When we originally committed to Whistler as our location, our choices were very limited in the Lower Mainland and September was a relatively quiet month in the Sea-to-Sky corridor and we helped fill a void for local Tourism in Whistler. We recently reviewed calendars that were getting quite full and a Vancouver location was now an option to us. It was with thorough and deep discussion at our Board level that we unanimously voted and agreed to relocate to Vancouver. It many ways, it felt like we were going full circle, and were falling back in line with Frank’s original vision.
Over those years, we’ve built very strong relationships with a number of key sponsors and organizations in Whistler – including our hotel partners, The Coast Blackcomb Suites at Whistler, The Westin Resort & Spa Whistler and The Pan Pacific Whistler. Other sponsors like The Scandinave Spa, Tourism Whistler and of course our media partners in the direct area, Mountain FM and The Whistler Question have been there since day one. We cannot thank all of you enough for supporting our event!
Moving Forward
Two other key sponsors that will continue with our event are Asics and SierraSil. The teams at both Asics and SierraSil have not only supported us with great prizes, but have actively participated in the run itself and shared our “Spirit”. In fact, SierraSil is the defending champion of the Whistler Spirit Run Relay Race.
We’re proud to say that our event is recognized as the premiere race of the B.C. Athletics Lower Mainland Cross-Country Series and with their assistance we’ve been able to make this move back to Vancouver.
Our Vancouver radio partners, from Rogers Radio – News1130, Jack FM and Sonic 104.9 will also carry on and be part of our family, as will their sister station Mountain FM in Squamish/Whistler.
We proudly remain as part of the Vancouver Sun Run Series and other strong local sponsors, Forerunners, Whistler Water, The Press Room and Santevia have also committed to their ongoing support.
We are excited to announce that our new hotel partner and host in Vancouver will be Coast Hotels. We’re very pleased to carry the legacy forward with their 2 Vancouver locations – The Coast Coal Harbour Hotel and The Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites. Special rates at both of those properties will be posted through our website very soon.
Giving Back
One of the most important things that we committed to from day 1, was giving back to the community.
Over the last few years, we’ve hosted and participated in a number of training sessions with local Whistler schools and soccer clubs. We’ve donated to KidsSport, established our own Frank Reynolds Memorial Bursary and have awarded bursaries to a number of very deserving athletes based on specific qualifying criteria that was set by our Board. We plan on staying with this tradition as we reposition to Vancouver.
2015
Our date is set for Sunday September 13th, 2015 at Jericho Beach Park and our new website is up and running at www.vancouverspiritrun.com
We look forward to your continued support and once again thank all of our sponsors and partners for their backing as we move to Vancouver. Most importantly, a big thanks to all of our volunteers, committee and Board members, past and present, because without them, we wouldn’t be able to host such an excellent event.
Thank you and we hope to see you on September 13th!
Peter Diemer
President, Callaghan Valley Sport & Cultural SocietyOrganizing Group of the Vancouver Spirit Run