Canada Day festivities a hit at Wascana Park

Regina Canada Day celebrations took place at Wascana Park on Friday.

A sea of red and white flocked the grounds of the Legislative Building with people walking around with tasty treats from the food trucks nearby.

In the morning, runners dressed in red and white were on the starting line to run the RunRegina Canada Day Run & Walk 5 km race around Wascana.

At the finish line, Neeraj Rathod stood behind the snack table, handing out bananas to exhausted runners.

“I’ve been enjoying the volunteer work,” said Rathod with a smile. “I have just recently immigrated and I did volunteer work back home.”

This is Rathod’s first Canada Day; he has only been in Canada for three months since immigrating with his family from India. He said the decision to come to Canada was clear.

“I think that Canada is a country where they welcome everyone from different backgrounds and different ethnic cultures,” he said. “That’s why I chose to come here.”

Rathod said he had no other plans to for the afternoon to celebrate Canada Day, but he will be coming back in the evening.

“Me and my family will come and enjoy the fireworks,” he said.

The runners finished the race at Queen Elizabeth II Gardens on the grounds of the Legislative Building. One of the runners, Landon Leibel, said the run was not his first choice on how to celebrate Canada Day.

“My wife made me,” said Leibel. “She signed me up.”

Liebel said it was a pretty successful day for him, despite being forced into the event.

“It was great. I beat her by five minutes so I’m happy,” he said with a laugh.

Leibel was going to celebrate with a burger and a beer from one of the food trucks.

The Western Canada Strong Man competition took place in the afternoon with over 500 audience members in attendance. The competition took place between the Legislative Building and Albert Street at Wascana Park.

Twelve strongmen from across Canada competed for the title of Strongest Man. Among the competitors was Regina local Issac Maze.

The strongmen compete in a variety of gruelling events including a semi-truck pull and a car dead lift. Maze’s favourite event is the Atlas stone toss.

“It’s a real old-school event and stone lifting has just always been my favourite,” he said.

Maze said training for the event is intense. He trains four days a week and eats plenty.

“About a week before you take time to rest and mentally preparing so you can get all psyched up on game day and give it your best,” he said.

Rain or shine the strongmen have to battle the elements as the competition takes place outdoors. With Friday being especially bright and sunny, Maze had to pack a couple of extra things.

“The heat (is) a big factor so I always bring a few things with me,” he said. “I have a battery-powered fan, a cooler full of ice and drinks, and cold towels. That’s about the best that you can do is stay out of the sun as much as possible.”

The clear favourite event of the day was the semi-truck pull. Many audience members cheered on the strongmen as they pulled the semi-truck 80 feet across the parking lot.

One audience member said he could maybe pull the truck if it was downhill. Young Rowan Nikolou said he was skeptical if he could pull a truck right now, but when he’s older it could be a different story.

“Maybe if I work out,” he said with a smile.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting the information in the photo caption.