Run or Walk for Southlake draws record numbers

April 30, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

The Nature’s Emporium Run or Walk for Southlake went off without a hitch on Sunday morning, bringing out roughly 1,500 participants and raising nearly $130,000 in pledges.
“I’m so thrilled with the support we get from the community,” said Dr. Dave Williams, president and CEO of Southlake Hospital. “Southlake is a special hospital and we like to be able to deliver world class care close to home and we couldn’t do it if it weren’t for the support of the people in the community and the ones surrounding us.
“Today was a fantastic testimonial for the support we have for the hospital and it was just a lot of fun to be out there with all our friends and doing this fundraising run for a great cause.”
Dr. Williams ran in the 5-kilometre event and joked about finishing under his target time.
“I did take part and I’m always happy to finish vertically, which is a good thing,” he said jokingly. “It was a great day for it as well, the temperature was perfect with no rain and it was nice and sunny. I’ve got to start training again, I think.”
Williams also said he was thankful for the support the participants received throughout the neighbourhood.
“Another thing I thought was remarkable was the people in the houses along the streets we were running on, they were very gracious. They were coming out to encourage everyone to keep running and giving out water to everyone, it was really impressive to see.”
Neila Poscente, president of Southlake Foundation, said the event has grown each year since it started 12 years ago.
“It went fantastic. It’s a huge community effort and we had over 100 volunteers for this event that the committee has been planning all year.”
Poscente said the run supports priorities at the hospital and that the current target is to get a second MRI.
Pledges are still being taken for another two weeks.