Over 200 Cochrane students got an extra special day off school for a good cause.

The “Jumpstart Games” was held for the first time in the town, thanks to the folks at Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program. They also brought along some special guests in 2014 Olympic men’s curling champions from Sault Ste. Marie, Team Brad Jacobs.

Jacobs, Ryan Fry and Ryan Harnden joined Jumpstart, town officials and everyone else in the fun. That word was paramount in Jacobs’ vocabulary for the day.

“In this atmosphere, as you can tell, today’s all about having fun,” he said Wednesday morning, “We’re not going to get too serious into things with these kids, in passing along serious messages or anything like that. I’m sure if any of them have questions, we’d be more than willing to answer and get a little more in depth but we’re here to have fun, that’s another big part about sport is enjoying yourself, enjoy playing and having fun so since today is all about fun, we’re just going to try and do that with these kids.”

Students participated in five different games set up around the field just west of the Tim Horton Events Centre.

Those included tic-tac-toe, ‘no man left behind’, an inflatable obstacle, noodle hockey and kin-ball.

In a release, officials say Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities disbursed $44,766 and helped more than 200 kids from the Cochrane Chapter in 2016.

Dustin Bursey is the Charities Regional Manager for the Jumpstart program. He says the day was about showcasing the impact the charity has on local kids.

“(Wednesday) is a celebratory event, but the Jumpstart program is live and active in Cochrane,” he said.

“(Cochrane Canadian Tire dealers) Kim and Marc Sturch have personally invested their hearts and their finances to make sure that this continues.”

Bursey adds they hope they’ll be back next year and this becomes an annual event.

Filed under: Local News