The Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Indian Band recently held their Annual Moccasin Mile Walk and Run Event as one of the Aboriginal Day of Wellness activities held across the province. The 1K/3K Walk and Run Event is open to anyone within the Secwepemc Region and this year over 80 participants joined together to walk and run the length of the course.
This year’s event was opened with a prayer and blessing by a local Elder and also included traditional drumming, storytelling, dancing and plenty of healthy snacks and fruit. The day brought community members together to socialize and participate in local culture, while also challenging everyone to get active and to stay active.
Moccasin Mile was so popular this year that community members were still registering after the run/walk began. One of the event organizers commented, "It was wonderful! We had 3 times the number of people participate compared to last year. We were a bit overwhelmed with the numbers, but we had some last minute volunteers who came and helped us out. We even had media coverage by CFJC TV and were featured on the evening news."
It also turned out that many of the participants who registered for the 1K run decided half way through the race to complete the whole 3K course! In fact, many participants—each sporting their bright yellow Moccasin Mile t-shirts—enquired about the following year and have already planned to train for next year’s event.
The Moccasin Mile aligns with many of the First Nations Health Authority’s (FNHA) Health and Wellness initiatives that take place in First Nations communities across BC. Next year, organizers will be prepared for an even larger number of participants. Exciting times are ahead for the community as they begin to train and look forward to the 2016 event.