A marathon Sunday for the Executive Director of the Kamloops Symphony as he marked the end of a five month-long fundraiser that came about due to a drop in revenue because of impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniel Mills completed his goal of running on every street in Kamloops with a marathon on Sunday – an idea which he says came to him back in October.
“From Day one I knew that it would probably be beginning and ending at the Sagebrush Theatre because of the significance as the place that we normally perform in. The very first run I started at Westsyde Secondary which was the site of very first ever rehearsal of the Kamloops Symphony when it first started,” he said.
“Thankfully I did a lot of the hillier neighbourhoods in the first half of the run just to try to get it out of the way before it started snowing. Of course the marathon itself was a harder physical challenge but thankfully I made it through without any injuries and I’m taking some well deserved rest now.”
Mills ran 42.2 kilometres on Sunday and nearly 940 kilometres over the course of about 90 hours. He was able to raise over $16,000 for the Kamloops Symphony, beating his initial goal by about $1,000 though he notes some donations are still being counted.
“All this money that we’ve raised will go directly to increasing the size of those concerts as we finish the end of the season,” Mills said. “The pandemic has been very challenging for all artists everywhere and so its really important to us that we support them as much as possible and deliver content to the community.”
Aside from the marathon itself, Mills says some of his highlights were running in the east end of Juniper Ridge, on Rose Hill, and through Dufferin.
“This project was a big logistical and physical challenge for me, but it has been very fun getting to know Kamloops’ various neighbourhoods. I am so grateful for the stunning geography Kamloops has to offer, and the tremendous backers who have helped us along this journey,” noted Mills.
“There were lots of people I care about, and different supporters along the route and having them cheering me on, or giving money, or both, the support from near and far has been great and I am thankful for that.”
(Photo via Kamloops Symphony)
