By Adam Donnelly

Turtle River Race takes over Thompson River Saturday

Sep 18, 2017 | 5:10 PM

KAMLOOPS — Another Kamloops tradition took place this weekend, all in support of Western Canada Theatre. The Volkswagen Turtle River Race took over the Thompson River at Riverside Park for a pair of races, where a familiar face’s turtle ended up beating the pack and bringing home some exciting prizes.

You don’t often hear the term “off like a herd of turtles” these days – but Saturday, there was a turtle herd sighting on Thompson River, as the annual Volkswagon Turtle River Race was held in support of Western Canada Theatre’s youth programming.

According to WCT Executive Director Lori Marchand: “It’s a really fun way to support youth activities that Western Canada Theatre offers.”

The race was tense! (Cue the suspenseful music).

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Okay, so maybe a few thousand rubber turtles floating down a river isn’t that exciting. Unless your name is Susan Edgell and you happened to win the first race on Saturday. That excitement would have to wait. Marchand tried calling Ms Edgell, but she was unavailable at the time.

As it turns out, the wait was worth it.

“Suddenly, I’ve won these tickets,” Edgell said, about hearing the news Saturday. “Super thrilled, it’s so exciting!”

What she didn’t realize was that were was more to the prize package.

“I thought that’s all I won,” she explained. “[Sunday] I found out there’s a whole list of other prizes I had won, so I’m feeling super fortunate.”

Other than the six prize winners whose turtles had the right stuff on Saturday, the real winner is Western Canada Theatre, and the kids who get to see the shows WCT will put on for them.