High-fives will abound as a new uplifting annual experience gets up and running in Tofino.
About 100 participants have been training for the past 12 weeks to take on ByNaturalFreedom’s Coastal Yeehaw Half Marathon on June 14.
The event will get underway at 9 a.m. at Tofino Resort and Marina and runners will tour through town on their way to Lynn Road before the pavement turns to sand as they navigate from North to South Chesterman Beach reaching a turnaround point at Tofino Seaview Cemetery and making their way back to TRM. It’s expected to wrap up by noon.
The untimed, unsanctioned, non-competitive event puts a focus on fun and inspiring personal journeys.
“It is just for you and your own self. Everyone is coming with a different type of goal and the point is for each individual to achieve their own personal goal while encouraging others to hit their goals and have fun,” ByNaturalFreedom founder Dominique Juric told the Westerly News.
“It’s meant to encourage fun and also for people to be able to enjoy the Coast. It’s the most beautiful place to run and I’m so excited that we get to run the beach.”
Participants registered in March and began a 12-week training plan to progress their stamina leading up to the half-marathon.
“During the race we encourage high fives, lots of cheering—we have cowbells—and we just try to make it fun,” Juric said.
“I’m excited about it because I feel like there is nothing happening like this here.
“There’s been a lot of people that have been working towards a goal all spring and a lot of new people that have gotten into running.
“I’m excited that it’s been received well by the community and that other people are so hyped about it just like I am. I want to encourage folks to feel like running isn’t intimidating and running a race doesn’t have to be super intense. We can just make it fun, have music playing, laugh along the way and cheer each other on.
ByNaturalFreedom has run Yeehaw half-marathon events in Whistler for the past two years and Juric is bringing Tofino into the fray with annual events expected to run every spring in Tofino and then again in Whistler every fall.
She moved to Tofino about a year ago and when she noticed there were no similar events going on, she quickly got to work on putting one together.
“I figure it’s a nice way to have people be able to work towards a running goal all spring and then bring them together for a running event pre-summer,” she said.
Juric said she launched ByNaturalFreedom as a way to encourage people to try new things in non-intimidating venues Safe space to try it out and have fun.
“I started it a few years ago with the purpose of building community through outdoor connections. We host a wide range of different events that are typically intimidating spaces or spaces that have a lot of barriers to entry,” she said. “I’m trying to create spaces for people to try new things outside.”
She’s now hosted 59 different events between tofino and Whistler over the past two years, involving over 1.000 different people, including hiking , fishing, climbing, remote beach cleans, half marathon, av avalanche safety, financial workshops, car maintenance sessions.
“Just random events that can help build community and allow people a space to try something new,” she said, adding the upcoming half-marathon will be the biggest event she’s hosted in Tofino so far.
“It’s been a fun side-project that allows for creative expression for myself and it’s cool that the community here has been so supportive. I’m really excited.”
Anyone wanting to volunteer for the half-marathon or learn more about ByNaturalFreedom is encouraged to check out bynaturalfreedom.com, find the organization on Instagram or reach out to Juric directly at dominique@bynaturalfreedom.com.
“I’m looking for volunteers, but I’m also just looking for lots of community folks to come out and support all the runners,” she said.
