Throughout our 2020-21 Season, our Executive Director Daniel Mills pledged to run every road in Kamloops street by street. From Westsyde to Barnhartvale, to Tranquille Farms and up to Aberdeen, he took the grand tour of Kamloops…by foot. After 83 runs, on 72 days, covering over 938 km and 11,900 m of elevation gain, and raising over $25,000 for the orchestra, his journey is now complete!
Check out some of the highlights of his journeys, along with his route maps here:
Photos from Daniel's full marathon on Saturday, January 23.
Races across the country have been cancelled, and the global performing arts industry has faced massive disruption due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Kamloops Symphony being no exception. The Kamloops Symphony's 2020-21 season has been reimagined digitally to operate within current restrictions, meaning revenue generation is a new challenge.
As an amateur endurance runner, Daniel was looking for a new personal running challenge that would also support the Symphony. As a new resident of Kamloops, running every street within the city was a way for him to get to know the city better, while also showcasing that the Symphony really belongs to everyone within our city limits (and beyond).
Yes! (with a few exceptions)
There were a few rules in place: Roads had to be city-maintained (so the highway, and some privately managed roads within strata complexes didn't count). Also, for roads separated by a median, he only had to run down one side, and he did not include exit ramps at major intersections.
But otherwise, every avenue, road, crescent and cul-de-sac was included (So there was a lot of back and forth.)
Daniel started this epic journey with his first run on Friday, August 14th, at the site of the very first Kamloops Symphony rehearsal in 1976: Westsyde Secondary School.
After 72 individual days or running, Daniel completed his final run on Saturday, January 23rd, 2021, with a full marathon (42.2 km) ending at the site of most Kamloops Symphony performances: The Sagebrush Theatre.
Look at a map of the route
Thanks to technology, Daniel used map data to plan out the most efficient routes through various neighbourhoods. He printed off these routes to help guide his way each time he set out. He also had (and still has) a large map on the wall of his office for tracking purposes. Each run was logged on his Strava account, for those on the platform. You can also look through a gallery of completed route maps.