Since declaring his candidacy for mayor on Sept. 7, Jeff Genung says he has been overwhelmed by the outpour of support and is encouraged by what he has discovered along the way.

"It has started to have a life of it's own," says Genung. "Now I'm looking behind me on this path I've been walking along and the crowd is growing. The amount of positive support has been overwhelming."

Through forums, meetings and messaging he's found support for what he terms a fresh approach to connecting with people and the community. 

"I've been speaking about trying to give a voice back to the people and I think that's struck a cord with a lot of groups in town and they are now reaching out to me to give them that opportunity. I find it's very interesting that there is this large underground movement of people advocating for some change."

It piqued his curiosity and he did a some research on the internet and discovered just how widespread it has become in Cochrane.

"A large number of groups have been formed in Cochrane specifically to get things changed. But when I looked outside of our community there were very few."

It tells him he's on the right track.

"It has gotten out of control. We're allowing development to move forward without connectivity. It's changing the fabric of what this community is and that's one of the things I'm quite passionate about protecting."

Just one example is the gaps that have developed in the pathway system that Cochrane could once proudly boast connected the entire community. He says the physical barriers of the river, train tracks and bridge are just excuses.

"I think those are excuses. Yes, it's harder to overcome these geographical elements but not impossible. We need to raise the bar and hold strong. If this is something that is important to us, it's going to happen.

Even the new aquatic centre can't be directly accessed by the pathway, he points out, and while it's not a big deal it's a huge sign of what's being missed.

"Many people came here because of our proximity to the mountains and the river valley, but if they can't get out of their homes to walk and enjoy it I think it starts there. That's the small things, the attention to detail in development, that is just being lost."

Yet he doesn't want to leave the impression he will leave a wake of destruction and is acutely aware of the budgetary realities and some of that has come from the two terms he served on council from 2001 to 2007.

"If I'm elected, I'm not going to go and tear things apart. We're going to have to be completely responsible and aware of the budget and I think it will be a challenge to keep things moving forward at the same time as balancing the books. It's not impossible, but it's a task."

As a veteran Ironman competitor he sees parallels to how he's running his campaign.

"This is campaign is an elephant and how do you eat an elephant? One bit at the time."

"You can't go out in the morning and think about the finishline. You've got 10 to 12 hours in between and things change and you need to adapt and overcome those moments in the day."

"This is my Ironman. I've wanted to run for mayor for a long time. I've been planning to run for years, it was a matter of things aligning." 

CochraneNow.com will also be updating the campaigns of other mayor candidates Ivan Brooker and Tom Hardy.