A Veteran from the Netherlands will be spending Remembrance Day a bit different than most.
Derk Grooten is organizing what he calls ’11K on Remembrance Day Run’.
The run started last year with just eight people on two-days notice.
“I’m a veteran myself, I served in the Royal Netherlands Army, coming here in Canada, I saw how big Remembrance Day was for a lot of people,” Grooten said.
“Being a younger Veteran, I sought for a more physical way of remembering. It bounced around in my head for a couple of years, and then finally last year I thought ‘why don’t I just do a run and remember that way?’”
Grooten said the run will start at 2:00 a.m.
“All Veterans are tied up in all kinds of ceremonies throughout the day, so there’s not a lot of space to do something like that,” Grooten explained.
“When the Armistice was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th of the 11th day of the 11th month, and that’s what we remember, I thought the Armistice was actually signed in Paris, and Paris is nine hours ahead of us, so when I took that time back it makes it 2:00 in the morning here.”
Grooten said the run will start at the overflow parking lot of the aquatic centre.
“We run through the downtown core area, we’re going by some firehouses, the RCMP building, the Legion building, and the Cenotaph.”
Grooten added it is free, and no sign up is needed.
Additionally, the PG Road Runners have added this to their schedule as a virtual option.
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