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Teachers run this town

Staff at PRMS complete a physical education of the city by walking each street in Prince Rupert
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Staff at Prince Rupert Middle School were challenged to thrown down the gauntlet of walking or running every street in Prince Rupert during May and June, as a health and fitness goal. Kristy Tillman said she has seen streets she never knew existed in the city. She is seen here with Crystal Bernhardt, as they embark on finishing their last leg of the challenge. (Photo K-J Millar/The Northern View)

If you have noticed an increase in foot traffic in your neighbourhood in the past two months, this is why.

A group of staff friends from Prince Rupert Middle School rose to the health and fitness challenge of walking each street in the city, which was posed to them by their co-worker, Robyn Martin.

Martin, the PRMS secretary, said that she thought of the idea for staff as a fitness extension after her running club finished the Glory Days and mentioned running each street of Prince Rupert as a follow on from the annual Mother’s Day run. She threw out the idea of the “I Run This Town” challenge to her school colleagues at the end of April, who embraced it eagerly.

“I thought it would be a really fun thing to bring to our staff at the school and something that people could do, especially with the gyms closed. It’s something really healthy that people could be doing,” Martin said.

Martin said that during COVID-19 it was an activity that encouraged staff to move away from their workstations and walk a couple of streets around their homes.

Using old tourists maps of the city that were on hand, participants marked off each street as they accomplished their daily routes. Walkers and runners had until June 26, the last day of school, to complete the physical education of familiarizing themselves with the city streets.

It has definitely been a learning experience for some of the walkers or runners, Martin said.

“I think some people are amazed by how many streets there are, and they’ve enjoyed it because they see parts of Prince Rupert they never knew existed - even people who have lived here their whole lives,” she said.

More than 15 staff friends at Prince Rupert Middle School participated and Martin said that staff at Charles Hays Secondary also participated in a similar activity.

“As one of the participants, I know that some people have noticed and wondered why they’ve had an increase in foot traffic over these past 2 months. Some have found out, but I’m sure others might still be curious,” Kristy Tillman, teacher at PRMS said.”It might be a fun little challenge for all residents to try this summer as well, as travel is still limited.”

“This was a great experience to see the different parts of Prince Rupert that you don’t normally see when you are driving around,” Martin said.

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K-J Millar | Journalist
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