The 2022 Brauwerk Hoffman Trail Race was held on Saturday morning in Campbell’s Bay on Saturday. The race began and ended at the Brauwerk Hoffman brewery and brought participants on a rough trail spanning several properties in the area. Participants went up and down hills, through a field and bush and across two creeks.

The race was broken down into two groups; one group of 14 people who ran the five km long course and another group of 30 who ran the course twice for a total of 10 km.

This is the second time the race was held. It raised $1003 for the Les Ami(e)s du Manoir St-Joseph.

Paul Shea, one of the organizers of the trail race described . . .

trail running as more challenging than conventional running, yet easier on the body as you are not running on concrete.

“In trail running, the terrain is always changing. You’re in the bush. You’re out of the sun because of the canopy of the trees. If you’re going to do a five kms road race, you’re probably going to do it twice as fast as doing the trail run, depending on the course, because of the rougher terrain,” said Shea about some of the general characteristics of a trail race.

The event had a Jurassic Park theme to it, with a loudspeaker playing the movie’s iconic music on the second part of the course, a volunteer dressed up as a dinosaur at one the creek crossings and an alligator prop hidden in some reeds on the other crossing.

The race will be held annually and was preceded by a snowshoeing event that was held before the pandemic.

“One thing about microbreweries is they become very community oriented,” said Todd Hoffman, the owner of the brewery and one of the organizers. “So, recognizing that, we engage in the community and we form partnerships within the community. I think it’s important to us, as a business and as a citizen of this community to host and facilitate these types of events. To bring awareness to the manor and help raise money for it.”

Hoffman also mentioned that events like these were great for attracting people to the Pontiac. He hopes to get the trail recognized by national trail running organizations in order to make the event more popular.

Before the race, the organizers held a freezie race for children at the event. All kids ran a short circuit at the brewery and were rewarded with a freezie.

After the race, members of the Shea family also held a barbeque for the participants of the race. Anyone could also come and buy a burger with proceeds also going to the Les Ami(e)s du Manoir St-Joseph.

Remy Laprade from Gatineau came in first place in the 10 km race while David McMahon, from Chelsea, came in second.

“It’s a designer course, it was specially built for running, the first half was very fast, like cross country and the second half was very jurassic, lots of river crossings and ferns and mud and rocks and lots of interesting things,’’ said McMahon.

Sponsors of the event include Brauwerk Hoffman brewery, the Pontiac Bakery, Café Downtown, Coronation Hall, the Abattoir les Viandes du Pontiac, Freshwater Honey and Natural Fitness Lab.

The organizers hope to hold more trail running events on the course going forward.

Paul Shea leading kids and parents on the freezie race that was held before the main event. Maeve Fury, the winner of the freezie race, said he won because it was fun and he practiced.

A runner steps over the prop alligator head put out by Pat Shea on part of the course that goes through his property.

Rose Marie Shea, Mark Shea and Raymond Shea cooking burg- ers for the runners. They were among the members of Shea family who volunteered their time to the event

Spirits were high at the start of the race as racers took off running. The race started at the back of the Brauwerk Hoffman brewery. There were 44 participants in total.

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