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Cariboo Run Crew for all speeds and abilities

Running group looking to continue to grow as they run the local trails for fun and fitness
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The Cariboo Run Crew is for everyone, according to Kim Lewis.

While Lewis herself has been running for many years and has completed over 20 half marathons and some marathons, she says she is coming at running from a new perspective, having just had a daughter last year.

But lacing the shoes back up doesn’t appear to be intimidating for Lewis, and she continues to be passionate about running, even if she did come to it later, after she moved away from home as a student and couldn’t afford to go to the gym.

“I had an old pair of running shoes and my soccer gear,” recalled Lewis of her first runs. She went on to fall in love with trail running and says she uses it as a way to “get back in check with myself.”

“You’re out with trees and nature and you get to see how much your body can do.”

The Cariboo Run Crew was started by her friends Holly and Tyler Rogers as a way for runners to get together and Lewis took on the task of keeping it going when the Rogers moved back to Vancouver for work.

The group meets up twice a week, Sunday mornings at 9:15 a.m. to run trails on Fox Mountain and Wednesday evenings at 5:30 p.m. to run different trails around Williams Lake.

“We pretty much sample a little bit of everything that the cycling club built up over the years,” explained Lewis. She said the runners have worked with the cycling club a little and hope to support what they’re doing and help maintain the trail network.

Now that the group has established itself with an executive and incorporated, they plan to do this through memberships and trail work and continue to build the group’s profile in the community.

They are also working on developing more community connections and have been reaching out to the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex and Williams Lake First Nation

Around the holidays, the crew has done group run events and hopes to organize a running race as well, something they had already planned but dropped when the pandemic hit.

“Hopefully we’ll get us going towards … really helping put Williams Lake on the map … like we see in Quesnel, Kamloops and Prince George.”

It’s free to come out and run with the group, but memberships can be purchased to help grow the trail support and events for $25 per year if runners want to.

The group can be reached and followed on Instagram @caribooruncrew, on Facebook, they have a website at caribooruncrew.com and can be emailed at caribooruncrew1@outlook.com.

Anyone interested can send a message or email for more information.

“We just like to try and make sure everyone feels welcome, it doesn’t matter how fast or how slow you go … there’s always somebody to run with,” said Lewis.

People can get in touch to carpool and after runs the group usually hangs out and enjoys a visit.

“Not really very much is required.”

“I think a lot of people feel intimidated,” said Lewis, describing many self doubts. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at in your fitness journey or with your running … we have something for everybody and we include everyone, whatever your athleticism is.”

Read more: Williams Lake harvest run, walk and bike set for Sunday, Oct. 17



ruth.lloyd@wltribune.com

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Ruth Lloyd

About the Author: Ruth Lloyd

After moving back to Williams Lake, where I was born and graduated from school, I joined the amazing team at the Williams Lake Tribune in 2021.
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