Motion Commotion replaces Racers for Health

Clouds of colour will be bursting into the air of Kahnawake in just a few short weeks, as the Kahnawake Youth Center (KYC) prepares for the first edition of a new running event that’s all about promoting community health in the most creative way possible.

“It’s going to really be a fun and exciting day,” said Cheyanne McComber, KYC’s community events coordinator.

The event, which will be known as Motion Commotion, is set to replace the annual Racers for Health event that has been organized in partnership with the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project (KSDPP). Racers for Health was a competitive event that had been taking place for around 30 years, but McComber said that there’d been a decline in participation in recent years, leading KYC and KSDPP to consider a new idea for the run.

“The main purpose was to get the community moving and get our youth to prevent Type 2 diabetes and live a healthier lifestyle,” McComber said. “We talked about how we could revamp it to keep the meaning of getting our community active and putting on a fun event for the schools.”

The idea behind the Motion Commotion event is to add some colour to the run. Colourful powder made primarily of corn starch will be tossed into the path of runners, who will don white t-shirts donated by KSDPP, which will be covered in splotches of vibrant rainbow dye by the time they reach the finish line. Unlike Racers for Life, the event will be non-competitive, so instead of leaving with a medal, runners will leave with colourful shirts as a memory of their Motion Commotion race.

The event will take place during the school day on Thursday, June 5, and students will participate in timeslots separated by grades, with nursery and kindergarten students kicking things off at 10 a.m. Grades one to six will follow, with the final group of general community members and high schoolers invited to take part starting from 12:15 p.m.

The event will start at KYC and loop down towards the Moose Lodge, past the hospital, around the church, and around to Kateri Hall.

Passing the hospital should be a highlight of the event, with the elders who are resident there already informed about the possibility of coming out to watch the little racers pass by in their colourful outfits.

“It’s a fun way to get out of the house,” said McComber, who added that by shifting to a participation-based rather than competition-based format, more people might feel encouraged to take part.

“If we encourage even for the teachers to take part now, they’re also role modelling for the kids, and it’ll help if people can say ‘If my teacher, my cousin, or the principal want to come out and take part, then you know what, I think I can do it.’”

McComber said that the powder is made from a mixture of cornstarch and safe dye, and that KYC employees have already tested it out, even recruiting one employee’s son to model a white t-shirt and confirm the look is perfect for the event. She added that the dye washes away easily over the course of a few days, so there should be no issues with cleanup after the event.

Students from Kanesatake are planning to attend the event, and KYC hopes anyone of any age feels welcome to participate, with a registration table in the KYC parking lot available for racers on the day of. With the participation of everyone, McComber hopes that the run can encourage “aonsetewatorià:neron’” - “for us to move our bodies again.”

[email protected]