Pre-med students ‘hoof it’ for charity

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on March 13, 2024.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Matthew and Tracey Roemmele run across the finish line during the Hoof-it Run on Saturday at Nicholas Sheran Park.

The 11th annual Hoof-It Run was held under warmer conditions on Saturday morning at the Nicholas Sheran Park.

The annual run is hosted by U of L’s Pre-Med Club and all the proceeds go to the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen and the university’s Student Union Food Bank.

“Tuition’s expensive and kids want to really invest in their selves but sadly lots of people, they start cutting back on meals to save more money for maybe rent, or paying tuition, or buying books,” said Ty Dudas, run organizer and co-president of the Pre-Med Club.

“So it’s hard being a student and then usually the food gets pushed aside because they’re like ‘I could have something cheap or skip a meal to save some money.’ So the Student Union Food Bank is really great at giving food to those kids and so they don’t have to worry about the food as much.”

After COVID forced the run to use alternative methods, Dudas feels the event is hitting its stride again.

“There’s lots of people that come every year now and they kind of expect it,” he said.

“It warms them up for their racing season during the spring and summer and yeah it’s been awesome.”

Dudas says the run has gained more participants over the years.

“This year was a bit harder because of the snow,” said Dudas.

“It was harder to get people out, but (in) previous years we had the biggest year ever just because there was kind of nice weather before the race. And I think I’m shocked by how many actually turned out today considering the weather was not great before.”

Emma Anderson came out to support her husband in the Pre-Med Club, the local food banks and soup kitchen.

“It’s a lot, it’s expensive, like especially coming from just a young family trying to go through school,” said Anderson.

“So anything we can do to help those who are struggling, we really want to just help and come out and support.”

Rob Casper was participating in his third Hoof-It Run.

“It’s a great cause,” said Casper.

“Anytime you get something like this, try and get as many people out as possible, and unfortunately the weather kept some people away this year. But hopefully next year will be as big as the last two.”

Dudas anticipated $1,000 would be raised from the run.

There were 16 runners that were in either the two or four kilometre run.