Cathy Kowal just keeps running.
After competing in a marathon for arthritis at Walt Disney World in Florida in January, the First Nations police officer most recently participated in the ninth-annual “Run for the Meatball” event in Thunder Bay.
And she brought along four Rainy River First Nations girls–Brittany Roy, Kristine Bombay, Ashley Bombay, and Jilliana McGinnis–as well as Jennifer Mercer.
“It’s a popular local event there. Basically, it’s a five-km run from the Knights of Columbus Hall, over the Jackknife Bridge, and then back again, followed by a pasta dinner,” Kowal explained.
Kowal and the rest went to run the weekend before last–right in time for a heavy dumping of snow.
“The run wasn’t supposed to happen. Because of the snowstorm, safety was a liability and the police wouldn’t direct traffic,” she noted. “But people ran it in anyway.”
An avid runner who finished 185th out of 740 runners in her age group in the 42-km run at Walt Disney World, Kowal said this one was a whole different ball game.
“The snow makes a significant change to running time. The snow is like running on a beach–you feel like you’re always losing ground,” she remarked.
Running at the same pace as her companions, Kowal said they took 29 minutes to cross the finish line.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
