Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend launches 2016 Scotiabank Charity Challenge

$1 million fundraising goal for 2016!

Ottawa, October 1, 2015 – Organizers of the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend have set an ambitious goal for their runners this year: raise $1 million for local and national charities by participating in Canada’s largest running weekend on May 28-29, 2016.

The Scotiabank Charity Challenge is a community-building component of all six of the major road races that Scotiabank supports across Canada. The Challenge offers runners the chance to raise funds and awareness for their communities.

Last year, the inaugural Scotiabank Charity Challenge in Ottawa raised more than $800,000 for 40 local and national charities. Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend organizers anticipate 50,000 runners will participate in one of the weekend’s six running events, and believe reaching the $1 million mark is an achievable goal.

“We continue to see participant growth in our events each year and as our weekend grows so do the number of runners participating on behalf of a charity,” said John Halvorsen, Run Ottawa President and Race Director of the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. “Through the support of Scotiabank, our charity program has been greatly enhanced making the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend the ideal platform for charities to utilize as a key fundraising event throughout the year.”

“Our Scotiabank Charity Challenge lets runners make a difference – those who love the journey of training, as much as they love their communities. We couldn’t be more pleased with the response we witnessed in Ottawa last year and we’re looking forward to another record-setting year in 2016,” said Frank Bilodeau, District Vice President, Ottawa and West Quebec at Scotiabank.

Local charities interested in being part of the Scotiabank Charity Challenge are invited to visit www.runottawa.ca for more information. One time donations from the public to any of these charities can be made by visiting www.runottawa.ca.

 

2015 Scotiabank Charity Challenge winners announced

Earlier today, John Halvorsen and Frank Bilodeau presented $5,000 cheques from Scotiabank to each of the following 2015 Scotiabank Charity Challenge winning charities:

  • Walk this Way supported by the Boys and Girls Club of Canada – Charity with the largest total dollars raised
  • The Ottawa Hospital Foundation – Charity with the largest number of fundraising runners
  • CNETS Canada – Charity with the largest average dollars raised per fundraising runner

 

2015 Scotiabank Media Challenge winners announced

The following media personalities who took part in the first ever Scotiabank Media Challenge in 2015 each won money towards the participating charity of their choice. These charities also received their prize money today.

Challenge Charity Winner, Media  Prize
2K – Women CHEO Laura Stone, Global News  $  250.00
5K – Women The Royal Ottawa Foundation Lucy Scholey, Metro Ottawa  $  250.00
10K – Men CHEO John Ruttle, CTV Ottawa  $  250.00
10K – Women CHEO Brittany Turcotte-Hameed, Kids in the Capital  $  250.00
Half – Men Start2Finish Andrew Chak, iRun  $  250.00
Half – Women Boys and Girls Club Genevieve Bernier, Gigi’s Blog  $  250.00
Marathon – Men Canadian Cancer Society Christian Merciari, La Presse  $  500.00
Most funds raised Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Amy Castle, CBC Power & Politics  $  500.00
Random Draw Team Diabetes Kenny Jones, Country 101.1  $ 250.00 

Members of the media interested in taking part in the 2016 Scotiabank Media Challenge should contact boucher@fusecommunications.ca.

Download the press release.

About the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend

The 2015 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend welcomed more than 49,400 participants in six races, including the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon, the Scotiabank Half-Marathon, the Ottawa 10K, the HTG Sports 5K, the 2K and Scotiabank Kids Marathon. Two of the weekend’s events have received top honours from the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF). The Ottawa 10K is one of only four Gold label 10K races in the world, and the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon is designated Silver label. The 2016 Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend will take place on May 28-29, 2016. Visit us at www.runottawa.ca.

 

About Scotiabank

Through our global philanthropic program, Scotiabank and its employees support causes at a grassroots level. Recognized as a leader for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, Scotiabank has contributed on average $50 million annually over the last five years to community causes around the world.

Scotiabank is Canada’s international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and parts of Asia. We are dedicated to helping our 21 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 87,000 employees and assets of $863 billion (as at July 31, 2015), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges (NYSE: BNS). Scotiabank distributes the Bank’s media releases using Marketwired. For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankNews.
 

For more information please contact:

Annie Boucher
Media relations
Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend
boucher@fusecommunications.ca
(613) 863-3702