Participation was up, volunteers came through in big numbers and the weather was ideal.

The atmosphere at the Lions Rodeo Park was charged over the June 3-4 weekend for the 18th annual Footstock that saw runners of all ages take to the Cochrane trails and roadways.

Overall, Footstock co-chair Meredith McMorran says they were pleased with the weekend.

"We thought it was great. Everybody on the board continues to love the Footstock Festival area that we create at the rodeo grounds and the weather really cooperated. With the volunteers, around, the spectators, the racers coming in, the Lions picking up their pancake breakfast, the music, it was a great atmospshere."

In total just shy of 800 people participated in the 5k, 10k, duathlon, half marathon and the youth triathalon. The sold out triathalon accounted for 400 of the participants and the crowds were large and cheers loud as youth ages 5 to 15, swam, cycled and ran their way through a course that varied in length to suit their age group.

The response to the reintroduction of the half marathon wasn't as good as they had hoped, especially with the interest expressed in the past, but they believe this is something that could be built upon in the future. A total of 38 people registered.

The rush of volunteers that came forward to help shows the community spirit Cochrane continues to illustrate. Three weeks out they were short about 120 volunteer positions and when word went out the community responded.

"Once again the people of Cochrane came through for us to make the race happen," says McMorran.

This year's edition is now in the books and already organizers are discussing preliminary plans for next year. The openng of the pool at the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre means new race routes need to be established.

"We've already talked around some dates for next year's race. We do for sure have to do some reconnaissance around the rec centre to figure out how our races will fit in there since the pool is there."

In September they'll announce the dates and race lineup for 2018. It's also when they announce any donations that may result from this year's race.

"Hopefully we're in the black again and then we can get into the business of figuring out how to allocate the monies that we have."