Terror on the Trail in Sharbot Lake

Jeff Green | Nov 02, 2016

Lynette Whan has always decorated the woods around her home for her family at Halloween and she has also always wanted to do something on a community scale.

This was the year, and with the help of some of her running friends and the Railway Heritage Society, the idea of a 2 and 5 km walk/run along the K&P trail between Sharbot Lake and Road 38 came to fruition. The set up took much of the afternoon on Sun. Oct. 30 when the run was held. There were coffins that moved; zombies wandering in front of runners; lost souls looking for their loved ones; all things that runners rarely see as they chug along the scenic trail that curls around the west basin of Sharbot Lake. Many of the walkers and runners were dressed for the occasion as well, including a woman in heels who somehow managed to make it most of the way up the trail, and back, with her daughter running on ahead and calling for her every time she got scared by a moving skeleton or a monkey in the trees.

The event attracted a good, younger crowd, who also enjoyed the haunted caboose put on by the heritage museum. At the end of the run, along with water, each participant received a bag of candy, certainly once of the best ever participation prizes in a local run.

Prizes were awarded for the fastest runners: Karl Kent (m) and Christine Patterson (f) in the 5 km category, and Riley Merrigan in the 2 km category. Prizes were also awarded for costumes.

At the end of the race, it was decided this would be the first annual haunted run.