SUBMITTED PHOTO - Nicki Johnson (left), Rita Pasiciel, Vicki Galipeau, Larry Peterson, David Alexander and Jo Peterson take part in a cheque presentation from the Mad Hatters Running Club donating $2,500 to the Cypress Hills Adventure Running Society at Medicine Hat College this week.
At this time last year, Rita Pasiciel was getting ready to run 150 kilometres in the Northwest Territories.
So what the 66-year-old and other local runners have in mind for the future is hardly a stretch.
Pasiciel is at the helm of the newly-established Cypress Hills Adventure Running Society, which is in the early stages of planning a 100-mile (161 kilometres) race in 2021.
A press release from the newfound society Friday evening states that “most of the legwork is complete in that a route has been established by numerous volunteers.” It begins in Elkwater and goes all the way to Fort Walsh on the Saskatchewan side of the hills, then back to Elkwater via Reesor Lake.
A $2,500 donation from the Mad Hatters Running Club will help kickstart plans for an invitational run along the course in June 2020. That should help iron out any kinks before the main event the following summer.
Pasiciel has ran ultramarathons around the world for years, including last January’s run which coincided with the sun rising in Tuktoyaktuk after nearly a month of darkness. But the last ultramarathon in the Medicine Hat region is thought to date back at least a decade, when it was run through Police Point Park.
