4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group

For the second year in a row, a group of Canadian Rangers from 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (4 CRPG)’s British Columbia Company (BC Coy) trained to run the virtual edition of the Canada Army Run “together.” 

Last week, seven Canadian Rangers from the 100 Mile House, Ucluelet and Quesnel Canadian Ranger Patrols (CRP) and two full-time staff members, based out of the BC Coy headquarters in Victoria, ran the 2021 Canada Army Run: Virtual.

Five Canadian Rangers from British Columbia Company ran the virtual Canada Army Run last year. They were all back again this year, and they even recruited four more runners. 

This year, Canadian Rangers Alison Harle, Emily Coombs, Joan Lewis and Lindsay Chung ran the 5K + 21.1K Commander’s Challenge. Canadian Rangers Cherie Nickel and Scott Gorman ran the 10K, and Canadian Ranger Andrew Curtis ran the 5K. Warrant Officer Kirk McColl, a Canadian Ranger Instructor with BC Coy, and Sergeant Colin Stephen, the Operations Sergeant for BC Coy, both ran the  5K +10K UBIQUE Challenge.

Canadian Ranger Corporal Cherie Nickel of the 100 Mile House CRP says she decided to do the Canada Army Run last year because she needed something to do during the COVID-19 pandemic when she couldn’t go to the gym.

“I have been to Ottawa on the shooting team, so I had seen all the running teams coming in at the airport and thought that would be really cool to do that one day,” she said. “I wanted to keep busy because I’m active at work, so I decided to start running short distances.”

When Lewis told her about the virtual Canada Army Run, she decided to register because it would give her a goal. She signed up for the 10K again this year because the run supports an awesome cause and she loves the race shirts. 

Canadian Ranger Sergeant Emily Coombs, Patrol Commander of the Ucluelet CRP, participates in the Canada Army Run in memory of  her grandfather, who served in the Canadian Army for 33 years. 

“I am also doing it for the personal challenge, hoping to better my performance each year,” she said.

Canadian Ranger Master Corporal Alison Harle of the Ucluelet CRP does a lot of her training on B.C.’s beautiful hiking trails.

“Being on the trail, whether running or hiking, provides me with such an immense sense of personal freedom, something I never take for granted,” she said.

The Canadian Rangers are a part of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Reserves working in remote, isolated and coastal regions of Canada. They provide lightly-equipped, self-sufficient mobile forces to support CAF national security and public safety operations within Canada. 4 CRPG is responsible for Canada’s four western provinces and reports to the 3rd Canadian Division.