Sun Run celebrates 40th anniversary under blue skies

Article content

When the SeaBus and SkyTrain are packed first thing on an April Sunday morning, you don’t even need the sea of baby-blue T-shirts and racing bibs to know it’s Vancouver Sun Run day.

Sunday marked the run’s 40th anniversary, attracting 45,517 participants for the Sun Run, which was held virtually for two years because of COVID-19 and had 35,000 take part last year.

Article content

Article content

Despite forecasts of rain, runners woke to a brilliantly sunny if chilly morning, perfect for running, walking or wheeling 10 kilometres.

“I’m a happy person, I like to have fun,” said Vandad Pourbahrami after finishing his run in a giraffe suit.

“If I can exercise and bring a smile to other people face’s, that great.”

Little Liam Nasr, six years old, and his mom Jasmine arrived in Canada from Iran five months ago and thought the run was great.

“I had a lot of fun,” he said. “I like to run around.”

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 

25. 

26. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

All 26 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

Article content

Article content

Patricia Kearney has lost count, but she’s taken part in more than 20 Sun Runs, she said.

Including the inaugural Sun Run, which was around Stanley Park.

“It was a good run, I wish I’d been faster” Kearney, a distance runner since junior high, said. “I don’t have a lot left in my legs, the music (along the run route) was really nice and kept me going.

“It’s nice that it’s downhill at the end,” she said. “The biggest difference between today and the first Sun Run is just the numbers, it’s so big now.”

Myles Mertle had hoped the 40th anniversary Sun Run would be his first, but a knee replacement forced him to be a cheerleader for his friends, instead.

“Great atmosphere, and what a day, I can’t wait for next year,” he said.

Ian Ertzinger, meanwhile, completed his first Sun Run with a personal best time of 41:38, knocking off more than a minute from his previous best.

“Compared to other 10k I run, normally I’d expect more cheering from the crowd,” he said.

“You’re just too fast, people weren’t lined up yet,” one of his Simon Fraser University MBA teammates chirped.

While it was Ertzinger’s first Sun Run, it definitely won’t be his last, he said.

Article content

Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 

25. 

26. 

27. 

28. 

29. 

30. 

31. 

32. 

33. 

34. 

35. 

36. 

37. 

38. 

39. 

40. 

41. 

42. 

43. 

44. 

45. 

46. 

47. 

48. 

49. 

50. 

51. 

52. 

53. 

54. 

55. 

56. 

57. 

58. 

59. 

60. 

61. 

62. 

63. 

64. 

65. 

66. 

67. 

68. 

69. 

70. 

71. 

72. 

73. 

74. 

75. 

76. 

77. 

78. 

79. 

80. 

81. 

82. 

83. 

84. 

85. 

86. 

87. 

88. 

89. 

90. 

91. 

92. 

93. 

94. 

95. 

96. 

97. 

98. 

99. 

100. 

101. 

102. 

103. 

104. 

105. 

106. 

107. 

108. 

109. 

110. 

111. 

112. 

113. 

114. 

115. 

116. 

117. 

118. 

119. 

120. 

121. 

122. 

123. 

124. 

125. 

126. 

127. 

128. 

129. 

130. 

131. 

132. 

133. 

134. 

135. 

136. 

137. 

138. 

139. 

140. 

141. 

142. 

143. 

144. 

145. 

146. 

147. 

148. 

149. 

150. 

151. 

152. 

153. 

Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions

All 153 Photos for Gallery

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

Article content

B.C. Place was packed after the race, full of flushed faces and I-did-it smiles.

“Last year I said for our 40th let’s try to get to 40,000 for our 40th, here we are with 45,000,” said Harold Munro, The Vancouver Sun editor-in-chief

“For the 40th anniversary, you couldn’t have asked for a better day — a better crowd, biggest crowd we’ve had since 2014, which was the 30th anniversary.”

Munro started his career at the Sun 39 years ago and covered many Sun Runs.

He was a young sports reporter when he covered his first, riding on the back of the red convertible pace car and covering the elite runners.

“There are 45,000 stories here today, everybody has a story to tell,” he said before handing out trophies to the winners. “I love coming out talking to people, talking to some of the 1,200 volunteers who make this possible, the police, all the folks who shut down the city for the morning.”

Some of those volunteers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday at B.C. Place to set up because of a music festival Friday and Saturday — the Vancouver party band Ten Souljers had probably never performed on as massive a stage as the one Nickelback and Luke Bryan had played not much earlier as part of Coast City Country.

Article content

Jennifer Keys of Terrace completed the run virtually.

She’s at Vancouver General Hospital receiving chemo ahead of a stem cell transplant scheduled for later in the day Sunday, and she walked 2.5 kilometres around the transplant centre raising money for the charity Hope Air.

“I’m so thankful for all Hope Air has done for me, and I couldn’t be prouder to be doing my run-walk (in their honour),” she said via email.

gordmcintyre@postmedia.com

x.com/gordmcintyre

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content