Santa Run raises over $5,250 for Youth Collective

At the end of his five kilometre run Sunday, 13-year-old Jayden Polgrabia peeled off his Santa jacket and dropped to the Simcoe Park grass to catch his breath. 

The 13-year-old Niagara-on-the-Lake boy was the 63rd runner to cross the finish line, completing the run in an impressive 25:39, not far behind his friends Henry (25th; 21:42) and Malcolm Buffington (30th; 22:42) and Holden Powell (33rd; 23:12). 

But more importantly for Jayden, he topped the field in fundraising, smashing his personal goal of $250 for a total of $818.15 to go toward the NOTL Youth Collective. 

His efforts were part of the $5,260-plus raised by almost 400 runners to help fund certification training that is offered to NOTL youth.

"Jayden is just built for giving back and caring for others,” says his mother, Caroline Polgrabia. “Fundraising is about nurturing relationships, building confidence, setting and achieving goals, and ultimately gratitude. We never have to encourage him to get involved. He just looks for ways to help. And he never misses a chance to reach out and say thank you. We couldn’t be more proud of him.”

It’s the second year that the Santa Run has raised funds for the Youth Collective, which is run out of the Cornerstone Community Campus in Virgil. A similar amount from last year’s event was responsible for making some important programs available to local kids in 2023. 

“Last year we funded (St. John Ambulance) babysitting and first aid programs,” Caroline, a volunteer with the Youth Collective, says. “This year we’re going to add the Bronze Cross Lifesaving course so we can certify kids to work at our local pools in the summertime.”

It’s an attempt, she says, to connect NOTL kids with job opportunities in their own community. 

“We’ve talked about things like Smart Serve and WHMIS, things they can put on their resumes,” says Caroline, who also ran the 5K for the third straight year. “We are listening to kids to find out what they want, and we are looking to partner with appropriate community organizations to give our kids access to this stuff.”

She stresses that 100 percent of the funds raised stay in the local community.

“It’s an important event for us,” she adds. “We’re fundraising all the time to build our program. We want to work more closely with the Town in 2024, look at what the other community groups are doing, and look at ways to fill the gaps where they need to be filled.”

It was the third year for the Santa 5K and 1K Elf Run in NOTL. The event is organized each year by VR Pro, who also operate the Chilly Half Marathon (March 3 in Burlington) and the Frigid 10K and Frosty 5K (March 17 in Hamilton). A Santa 5K in Burlington earlier this month attracted more than 600 runners. 

The NOTL race has grown each year, almost doubling from the 209 participants registered in 2021 to the large field of red velvet seen running through town last weekend, all of whom seemed relieved that the early morning drizzle stopped in time for the run. This year's race was sponsored again by NOTL Realty along with Desjardins Insurance agent Travis Cairns.

Crossing the finish line first in the 5K was 17-year-old Governor Simcoe Secondary School student Fenway Breckels, who has led the field all three years. Breckels beat Graham Tomori of St. Catharines by 17 seconds with his official time of 16:08, which was 35 seconds faster than his performance in 2022.

“I felt like I had a lot more left for the last 2K than I usually do,” said Breckels, who competes for his school’s track team and hopes to earn an athletic scholarship to Canisius University in Buffalo, New York next year. “So I started picking it up a bit. This might be one of my best races of the season so far. My training for my school races really paid off in this.”

With a time of 20:11, 19-year-old Fonthill resident Mia Nanini was the thirteenth across the line and the first female to finish the race. 

“I saw at the turnaround that there were no females ahead of me,” said Nanini. “I’m pretty happy I’m the first. I’ve been the first woman to finish at a number of events. I’m still training, though, because I really want to beat 20 minutes for a 5K.”

An avid runner, Nanini ran her first full marathon, Hamilton’s Road to Hope, two months ago. Her time there qualified her for the Chicago Marathon, scheduled for October 13, 2024, and was just a minute short of qualifying her for the Boston Marathon next year. 

In ninth place at 18:54, 17-year-old Mario Galbraith was the top NOTL runner in the 5K.

For the most part, though, the participants, like 12-year-old Wyatt Jackson of St. Catharines were there to challenge themselves, have a bit of fun, contribute to a community cause and to be a part of a great new Christmas tradition in NOTL. 

“My Mom told me about it and I got really excited,” said the Dalewood Public School student who eschewed the official VR Pro Santa suit in favour of his own onesie. “I started training for it in September, running on a treadmill. I was so ready to run.”

There is still time to contribute to the NOTL Youth Collective through the race’s fundraising portal. Visit https://raceroster.com/events/2023/71914/notl-santa-and-elf-run for the link.