WELCOME to the 6th ANNUAL CINNAMON BUN FUN RUN

IT'S A FUN RUN TO SUPPORT THE LADYSMITH FOOD BANK

The Ladysmith Striders Running Group - Esquires Division is again organizing the 6th Annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run charity event on November 28, 2010 and we invite the general public to participate in a 10km or 5km fun run/walk with the idea of raising money & donations for the Ladysmith Food Bank. 

TO ENTER THE RUN - BRING 5 NON-PERISHABLE FOOD ITEMS

The entry fee to the run is 5 tins of non-perishable goods which must be brought that morning in order to receive & collect your race bib. And for every entrant that signs up and participates in this run, their donation of food items to the Ladysmith Food Bank will received with thanks and much appreciated. So invite your friends!!

THE FUN RUN IS A PREDICTED TIME EVENT

The run will be a predicted time event. This means that even the walkers or slower runners have a chance to be declared the winner. So it's not the one who necessarily has the fastest time that finishes first... it's really the one who predicts the time it takes to complete their chosen distance and comes the closest to matching that prediction... is the one who will be declared the winner. And sorry folks, no watches or heart rate monitors allowed!

As participants, you choose which distance you would like to predict your time on; you pick either the 5km course or the 10km course. And for your further awareness, both courses will be closed after two hours so there will be no predicted time accepted longer than two hours. Click to view the course map.

COME OUT... FOR SOME EXERCISE JUST BEFORE THE HOLIDAY SEASON

This late fall run is a great way to move outdoors and exercise just before Christmas so that that extra helping of food doesn't make you feel so guilty!! This year we again start and finish from the Frank Jamison Community Center (FJCC) and the bonus is that there will be cinnamon buns, hot chocolate and/or water waiting for you when you finish your run. These refreshments will all be provided inside the FJCC gym so stick around after the run for closing ceremonies and a face full of delicious cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. And let's see how much food we can collect for the Ladysmith Food Bank!

JOIN US... AND BRING A FRIEND TO SUPPORT THE LADYSMITH FOOD BANK.

Online Registration will begin soon... so bring a friend and join us.

SUPPORT FOR THE FUN RUN COMES FROM THE COMMUNITY

As it has been since the beginning, our Fun Run is supported through the efforts of a large number of volunteers from our community. Thank you to all that help out on race day. Thanks as well, to our 2009 corporate sponsors LCU Insurance Agencies Ltd., Family Insurance Solutions Inc., Nanaimo Running Room, Ladysmith Chronicle, Senini Graphics and BBMR Creative Advertising, and a special acknowledgement to the Town of Ladysmith for road closure support during race day and for the use of the Frank Jameson Community Center. 

Click here for Frequently Asked Questions     [top]

2009 Top Stories

Running With Purpose Friendly Reminder
CBFR Presents $2,375 Cheque To Ladysmith Food Bank
CBFR Participants Top Previous Contributions To LFB
Cinnamon Bun Fun Run Sponsors Provide Solid Support
Food Bank Benefits From Run - Ladysmith Chronicle Story
Food Banks Canada Recognizes CBFR Participants
CBFR Supports Ladysmith Food Bank
Running With Purpose
2009 Cinnamon Bun Fun Run Results

RUNNING WITH PURPOSE

CBFR Reminds 2009 Participants To Follow-up On Their Commitment to Donate

One of the things that event organizers asked participants to consider when registering for the 2009 Cinnamon Bun Fun Run was to commit to extending a helping hand to the Ladysmith Food Bank at least one other time later during the calendar year. We called this effort Running with Purpose.

This is a friendly reminder to ask 2009 participants to notice that June 2010 has crept up on their calendars and to consider fulfilling a promise made to  double the impact of their 2009 participation by dropping off another five non-perishable items at the Ladysmith Food Bank sometime soon.

CBFR Organizers wish to thank 2009 event walkers and runners for lending a helping hand to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run by Running with Purpose. Thank you for making that extra donation to the Ladysmith Food Bank.

On behalf of the CBFR Organizing Committee with warm regards,  

John Mountain
CBFR Registration Coordinator &
CBFR Webmaster

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CBFR Presents $2,375 Cheque To Ladysmith Food Bank

The spirit of giving continues.  Earlier this week, CBFR Marketing Coordinator Bruce Youngren and Run Coordinator Kim Judson presented Ladysmith Food Bank Director with a cheque that represents the money raised from the 5th Annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run.

The donation of $2,375.00 was generated from a number of sources including cash donations from event participants, monies collected from a group of financial institution employees who in the spirit of participation made the food bank their charity of choice, and proceeds from the sale of CBFR technical running shirts.

Kit Willmot received the cheque and expressed his sincere gratitude to all the walkers and runners that participated in this year's Cinnamon Bun Fun Run.  [top]

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CBFR Participants Top Previous Food Contributions To LFB

It was a perfect day for running. Overcast skies gradually lightened over duration of the morning and by eleven o'clock the sun popped out to warm the shoulders of the last few runners and walkers crossing the finish line. It was just fantastic! And this fine weather arrived with the realization that the 5th Annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run was our best event yet with over 459 participants registered and nearly 3000 lbs. of food donated to the Ladysmith Food Bank. The generosity of this active community is absolutely amazing.

The level of support this year for the CBFR caused huge anticipation and excitement for the event organizers as 427 runners and walkers waited at the start for the beginning of the event. A quick head count in the FJCC gymnasium as the warm-up started tallied nearly 500 which included walk and run participants, support personnel, event organizers, and general spectators. The survey confirmed the event organizer's suspicions that it was the biggest crowd ever to attend the CBFR since the event was first organized at Coronation Square five years ago.

Opening comments of welcome by CBFR Event Coordinator Kim Judson preceded both Ladysmith Food Bank Director Kit Wilmot and Town of Ladysmith Councilor Duck Paterson who both spoke about strength of community and the merits of lending a hand to those less fortunate at times of need.

A heart-felt thanks to all the participants was delivered by Ladysmith Food Bank Director Kit Wilmot. In an emotional address, Mr. Wilmot marveled at the bags and bags of food waiting to be delivered to the food bank and stressed the value of giving to others in need and how wonderful it is to have shelves stocked high as the holiday season approaches. He thanked the CBFR event organizers for their years of determination in presenting the event, and thanked the walkers and runners again for turning out and supporting the food bank.

Councilor Duck Paterson spoke about the strength of smaller communities and how they can quickly respond to and rally around worthy causes; he gave tribute to residents from the Town of Ladysmith whom find time in their busy lives to get involved in projects like the renown "Ladysmith Festival of Lights" and soon to be renown "Cinnamon Bun Fun Run".

After an energetic warm-up routine guided by PJ Halliday, walkers and runners set forth onto the streets of Ladysmith heading south on 6th Avenue past the Fire Hall to Methuen. Both the 5K and 10K distances were over the same course with 10k runners extending the course with a second lap around. At the Dunsmuir and Bickle half-way point, Doug Judson and family manned the water station to provide hydration to weary participants as they crested the steepest hill on the course. The steep hill gave way to a gentle kilometer and a one half downhill which provided nice recovery for a slight uphill on 5th Avenue and Buller and then a right hook onto 6th Avenue for the finish.

Runners and walkers were rewarded with gooey cinnamon buns and hot chocolate, and the live performance of local band Skellig with their own home-grown Celtic-rock sound. Participants gathered inside the Frank Jameson Community Center to await the announcement of the winners and enjoyed the drawing of door prizes until all the finishing data was entered into the computers.

With five featured prizes assembled and ready, the top three predicted times were announced by CBFR Event Coordinator Kim Judson. In first place with a predicted time in the 5km run of 00:34:30 was Darlene Geary who nailed her predicted time exactly to the second. Finishing in second place within two seconds of her 5km run predicted time 00:25:00 was Laura Wyatt who blasted across the finish line at 00:24:58. There was a three-way tie for third place with Shirley Naylor, Samantha Arnold, and Michael Buchanan closing in on their times within three seconds. Shirley Naylor completed the 5km walk in a determined fashion with a predicted time of 00:38:38 and finishing time of 00:38:35; while Laura Wyatt finished with a hyper-fast finishing time of 00:26:03 just off her predicted time of 26 minutes flat. Finally, Michael Buchanan finished up with a very respectable 00:32:12 just ahead of his predicted time of 00:32:15.

With five featured prizes available, first place Darlene Geary chose the dinner for four at the Yellow Point Lodge for her prize, and second place Laura Wyatt chose the Judson Contracting Running Room jacket for her prize. With three individuals tied for third, all three were able to chose from the remaining featured prizes consisting of a digital camera, the iPod Shuffle and a beautiful and classy framed photo picture. Congratulations to the winners of this predicted time event and to all walkers and runners that participated and are winners as well.

Volunteers provide the fuel that drives the Cinnamon Bun Fun Run engine and without volunteers the event organizers - volunteers themselves - would have never been able to conclude this fundraising event. A core group of volunteers through their generous offering of time and energy have made the event happen by setting up the venue, shepherding participants through the registration process, marshalling the roads, dispensing water on the course, managing the participants event data, and offering hot beverages and cinnamon buns to all. Cinnamon Bun Fun Run event organizers had no idea that the support this year for the Ladysmith Food Bank would be so tremendous and we owe recognition for any successes that were achieved solely to those volunteers that came out and gave their valuable time. And for that, the CBFR Organizing Committee feels a great deal of gratitude to all the event volunteers.

For the record, the Ladysmith Food Bank received 2996 lbs of food for their holiday season shelves and over $2000 in cash donations as a result of the generosity of 414 walkers and runners who participated in the event. There were record numbers that came out to the 5th Annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run to support the Ladysmith Food Bank and the event organizers consider this event a success.

A final word about our participant's generosity. The theme of this year's event was Running with Purpose and we're happy to report that 122 participants committed to donating to the Ladysmith Food Bank at some other time in the upcoming year. The commitment to donate later in the year provides a multiplier effect and accomplishes two things; it raises the profile of the Ladysmith Food Bank in the community and provides yet another reason to extend your hand to generously give. CBFR Organizing Committee hopes that the Running with Purpose theme will plant a seed - a seed that we hope will grow into a greater awareness of the need for food and to feed those in the community less fortunate. Please give what you can and support the Ladysmith Food Bank throughout the year.

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Cinnamon Bun Fun Run Sponsors Provide Solid Support

The Cinnamon Bun Fun Run could not take place without the support of our event sponsors and this year sponsorship presented itself in many forms. We received financial help from a local insurance providers, goods and services from local merchants and organizations, and venue support from public works.

The Cinnamon Bun Fun Run Organizing Committee would like to express thanks to everyone that sponsored our run this year and appreciate your involvement.

2009 Cinnamon Bun Fun Run Sponsors:

• LCU Insurance Agencies Ltd. in conjunction with Family Insurance Solutions - $1,000 & Liability coverage for event, plus multiple draw prizes.
• Town of Ladysmith - Parks & Recreation - provided the FJCC gym facilities and race course signs/set up, plus FJCC Staff who provided race day support. 
• Nanaimo Running Room - provided finish line/timing clock/race day support, plus multiple draw prizes.
• Ladysmith Chronicle - provided news coverage and free advertising in their paper.
• Senini Graphics - provided timely supply of technical running shirts and technical shirt silk-screening of sponsor logos.
• BBMR Creative Advertising - provided design/marketing of posters that were distributed all around town and surrounding areas.
• Esquires Coffee at Coronation Square - post-race hot beverages.
• The Mountain Family - John & Cindy Mountain supplied a featured prize of a digital camera.
• Yellow Point Lodge - Richard Hill supplied a featured prize which was dinner for four at the Yellow Point Lodge.
• Judson Contracting - Doug & Kim Judson presented a featured prize of a spiffy Running Room running jacket.
• The Youngren Family - Bruce and his family supplied a iPod Shuffle as a featured prize.
• Old Town Bakery for on-time delivery of our featured cinnamon buns.

Main Prizes and Draw Prizes provided by:

• SunLife Financial
• Yellow Point Lodge
• The Howard Family
• Worldly Gourmet
• The Youngren Family
• Apple Press - Duncan
• The Mountain Family
• Ladysmith Credit Union
• The Naidoo Family
• Costco - Nanaimo
• Judson Contracting
• The O'Shaughnessy Family
• RBC Royal Bank - Ladysmith
• Chris & Pres Geens
• Chopstix Hair Salon
• White Spot Restaurant - Duncan
• Running Room - Nanaimo
• LCU Insurance Agencies Ltd.
• Gary Bolder

Over the years the Cinnamon Bun Fun Run has enjoyed success and much of it is due to the volunteers who willingly provide their time and energy. This year was no exception. Thank you to the volunteer Course Marshals who helped us out by directing vehicular traffic through major intersections and moving our participants safely towards the finish line. And a tip of the hat to the Ladysmith Ambassadors for their leadership throughout the day.

A big thank you to the live band called Skellig who performed during our pre-event and post-event ceremonies. The Cinnamon Bun Fun Run is so very fortunate that these truly gifted musicians were willing to share their voices and dedication to music with the runners and walkers who participated. Thank you Skellig, the CBFR really appreciates you coming to perform at our event. 
Click for... Skellig website.

Also a word of thanks to Sue Glenn and the Staff at FJCC who really provide a ton of support on race morning which ranged from opening the building, providing race day signage, setting up and marking the course, and providing general all-around support.

And a special thank you to Esquires Coffee. The Ladysmith Striders makes Esquires Coffee at Coronation Square their Sunday morning meeting place for weekly runs and post-run refueling. Thanks Tony, for helping us out again this year.

Again, the CBFR Run Organizers wish to thank all our run sponsors and also urge participants of this years run to extend this thank you to our sponsors personally if the opportunity arises, and to invited them to join us again next year.

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FOOD BANK BENEFITS FROM RUN

By Stephen Thomson - Ladysmith Chronicle

With no fog, rain or snow to be seen, participants in the fifth annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run had little reason to complain about the weather.

“It was wonderful. What a blessing to have clear skies and a little bit of sunshine at the end of the event, especially with the rain that we’ve been having,” said coordinator Kim Judson.

Around 420 people took part in the Nov. 29 event, which supports the Ladysmith Food Bank. While exact totals were not available, Judson said the run probably raised around $1,000 and more than 450 kilograms in donated food.

“It was excellent. It was really, really well attended. Everyone was in a good mood. We just had a lot of fun.” She said her personal highlight from the event was the level of generosity shown by those who came out and donated to the food bank.

Since the run/walk is a predicted-time event, winners were determined based on how accurately they were able to guess their time before heading out on the course that started and ended at Frank Jameson Community Centre.

This year, Ladysmith resident Darlene Geary was awarded top prize for exactly guessing her five-km time of 34 minutes, 30 seconds. The second place guess was only two seconds off, while three people came in third with guesses that were three seconds off.

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FOOD BANKS CANADA RECOGNIZES CBFR PARTICIPANTS

The CBFR Organizing Committee received a letter from Food Banks Canada acknowledging the strong support that the residents of Ladysmith and surrounding communities provided to the Ladysmith Food Bank.

While the letter is addressed to CBFR Run Coordinator Kim Judson and copied to Marketing Coordinator Bruce Youngren who between the two of them provided much of the leadership for the event; they would be the first to reflect any congratulations for the event back to all the participants and volunteers who without a doubt contributed greatly to the event's success through their dedicated community involvement and their generosity in supporting a worthy cause.

The full-text of the Food Banks Canada letter received from Program Director Kayley Collum is provided below.

The CBFR Organizing Committee would like to return congratulations to Food Banks Canada and Program Coordinator Kayley Collum for the their perseverance through times of meager resources and their unwavering commitment to feeding those less fortunate right across Canada.

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CBFR SUPPORTS LADYSMITH FOOD BANK

CBFR Marketing Coordinator Bruce Youngren recently reminded me of how important our Cinnamon Bun Fun Run charity event is to the Ladysmith Food Bank and specifically, to those less fortunate in our community. And seeing that it's Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to find out more about food banks and what food banks mean to people that frequent their service and maybe learn how to better lend a hand.

What I discovered was that hunger is largely a hidden problem, not only in our community, but in communities right across Canada. Many Canadians are simply not aware that large numbers of children, women and men in this country often go to bed hungry. And while anyone is at risk of food insecurity at some point in their lives, certain groups are particularly vulnerable.

There are the Working Poor. People with jobs constitute the second largest group of food bank clients, at 14.5% - up from 13.5% in 2007. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of food bank clients with jobs are employed at low wages. The expansion of the low-wage economy has generated more working poor who, even with full-time jobs, are unable to meet basic needs for themselves and their families.

Children continue to be over-represented among food bank recipients in Canada. This year, 37.1% of food bank clients were under 18. Child poverty is now at the same level seen in 1989, the year when the federal government made an all-party resolution to end child poverty. Child poverty is directly tied to the level of household income. Among households accessing food banks, families with children make up more than 50% of recipients.

There are Rural Dwellers. Despite the fact that many of Canada's rural communities are located in prime agricultural areas, hunger is a reality for tens of thousands of the nation's rural residents. About half of the food banks participating in HungerCount 2008 are located in rural communities (defined as having populations of fewer than 10,000 people).

Persons With Disabilities receiving disability income supports have made up the third largest group of food bank clients in the last five years, according to successive HungerCount surveys. It is just one more example of the broader problem of inadequate social assistance in Canada. Disability support is clearly not enough to help clients provide for themselves. If current disability programs and rates do not improve we expect to see a rise in food insecurity among this demographic, since Canada has a rapidly aging society and life expectancy is increasing.

And there are Seniors. Seniors accessing food banks across Canada is a sad reality. HungerCount 2008 reports that seniors accounted for 5.7% of food bank clients in a typical month of 2008.

The Single Parent Family is still one of Canada's most economically vulnerable groups. It is likely that many of the single parent households assisted by food banks (27.3% of the total), as reported in HungerCount 2008, are women: according to Statistics Canada, 1 in 4 single-parent families are headed by women.

Recipients of Social Assistance receiving social assistance as their primary source of income continue to make up the largest group of food bank clients. This year, 50.8% of those assisted by food bank in Canada were receiving social assistance. This suggests that welfare rates in Canada do not do enough to ensure food security for low-income Canadians. According to the National Council of Welfare, welfare rates across Canada continue to fall below Statistics Canada Low Income Cut-Offs.
                                                        (Statistics gleaned from Food Banks Canada)

Understanding why food banks are necessary reinforces the Ladysmith Striders Running Group's commitment to organizing the Cinnamon Bun Fun Run charity event with all proceeds going to the Ladysmith Food Bank. Our running group is now in their 5th year of organizing the event and to mark the anniversary we ask that all participants upon registration to not only drop of their entry fee of 5 items of non-perishable food for the Ladysmith Food Bank, but to make another commitment to themselves to drop off an additional bag of groceries to the Ladysmith Food Bank at some other time during the year. This way we can all double our commitment to "Running with Purpose" when we run or walk the 5th Annual Cinnamon Bun Fun Run on Sunday, November 29th.

Online registration is open and available at: www.cinnamonbunrun.com 

On behalf of the CBFR Organizing Committee with warm regards,  

John Mountain
CBFR Registration Coordinator &
CBFR Webmaster

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