Cochrane runners had an opportunity to chase colours of the rainbow last Sunday (September 3) at Vaughn's Memorial Colour Run.

It was the first colour run to occur in Cochrane, and what a success it was. With 103 runners hitting the ground, Jaime and Greg Sawchuk, were thrilled to receive such fantastic support from the community.

Besides being the first colour run in town, it was the first run Sawchuk ever planned. "I think it went really well. I had no idea how it would go over even from the beginning and with help it all really came together. Everybody worked really hard."

Three hundred pounds of coloured cornstarch was ordered for the race and Sawchuk looks forward to making the run an annual event. "I definitely want to build on it for next year, I think it was and I hope it was well received and a lot of fun. We are already thinking of ways that we can raise more money with more proceeds going directly to the foundation."

All proceeds from the run go directly to the Vaughn Sawchuk Memorial Foundation which supports children with heart conditions or in need or transplant. "Our focus from the beginning is to help support the families and the kids that have to be at the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PCICU) which is located in the Stollery Children's Hospital. All the money raised goes towards that, our lunch program, the Little Heart Heroes Camp, Children's Heart Disease Research, and we advocate for organ and blood donation registration. But the new PCICU unit, which is a new unit, will have 25 beds, so it goes to whatever that unit needs."

The new unit at the Stollery is expected to open in November allowing families and patients to stay together in a self enclosed unit.

Banff- Airdrie, MP Blake Richards, was also on hand encouraging attendees to sign his petition on Motion 110, which you can find here. If passed, the motion instructs the Standing Committee on Human Resources to undertake a study of the impact on parents who have suffered the loss of an infant child, and to make recommendations to the government to improve the level of support for grieving parents and to seek to ensure parents no longer suffer any undue financial or emotional hardship as a result of the design of government programming.

While a final fundraising total is being tallied, Sawchuk is already brainstorming on her next event. For more information on the Vaughn Sawchuk Foundation go here.