Alberta Runners Hunker Down as Floods Ravage Local Routes

Runners in southern Alberta are in survival mode as floods have displaced tens of thousands and cut many Calgary residents off from their downtown workplaces.

“Nobody I know is talking about running now,” says Calgary runner Mike Styczen, whose house was spared from flood damage but whose office is currently under water.

When the water eventually recedes, though, southern Albertans will find many of their favourite running routes cut off or destroyed.

In Calgary, Styczen says many of the vital connections to running pathways have been severed.

Calgary Running Routes Destroyed

1.  Sandy Beach: A bridge across the Elbow in the southwest part of the city, and a vital link on the Elbow river pathway, located here, normally look like this.

2.  Weaselhead: This is part of the 10-mile route around the Glenmore Reservoir, crossing the Elbow River. Note that the bridge is the high point of the route and the land and all of the pathways surrounding are inundated with water.

3.  Fish Creek Park: This is Sue Higgins bridge over the Bow River near the north end of Fish Creek.  The bridge looks OK, but the approaches and paths on both sides are destroyed. It’s located here, and here’s what it normally looks like.

4.  Another bridge further downstream in Fish Creek Park:  The bridge looks OK, but again the approaches and paths on both sides are destroyed. Located here, and here’s a more normal look.

5.  The Stoney trail pedestrian bridge: This popular pathway in the west end of the city has been destroyed. Located here (its actually under the highway bridge), it used to look like this.

“Lots of other running infrastructure is underwater,” Styczen says. “Bow River pathways, Elbow River pathways, Fish Creek pathways. Most of that stuff is built to flood; the waters will recede and they’ll hose it off and everything will get back to normal.” But there will be a lot of broken links. “We have a great city for biking and running infrastructure and we’re going to lose some of it  – some vital links – for a long time,” Styczen adds.

In the heart of downtown and Princes Island, there are paths on both sides of the river): https://twitter.com/CalgaryPolice/status/348556577462173696/photo/1. Louise Bridge in downtown (paths go underneath this) looks like this: http://ow.ly/i/2q7k6 and this. https://twitter.com/cfcurtis/status/347886331843731456/photo/1. And Langevin Bridge downtown (paths go underneath here) looks like this: https://twitter.com/Couttsy34/status/347935305359298561/photo/1.

Canmore Cut Off

Trails in Canmore have also been crippled by the flooding. Canmore-based trail runner Phil Villeneuve says it’s hard to assess the full extent of the damage at this point since there’s very limited access to the trails. “Plus, there are no roads in or out of Canmore,” Villeneuve says, “so nobody can drive out of here. That said, the funny thing is that if you actually want out, you’ll have to trail run out!”

The Cougar Creek trailhead, which feeds all of the trails on north side of the Bow Valley has suffered major damage, Villeneuve says. “If you have a bit of local knowledge, you can find some access points via the residential neighbourhoods,” he says, “but once on the trails, it’s hard to tell how much damage there is, or how far you can actually go as all the creeks are raging down the mountain!”

On the south side of the valley, the Canmore Nordic Centre trails are closed.

The Sunshine Ski Resort, which is the trailhead for some of the best high-alpine trails in the area, has a river running through the parking lot. “This means that all the trails that feed out of here will have been washed out for sure,” Villeneuve says. “Bridges, gone.”

Kananaskis has also been hit, Villeneuve says. The Elbow River caused some major flooding in Bragg Creek.  “Again, trails along the river will have been wiped out,” he says.

Race Cancellations

Several major running events in southern Alberta were cancelled, including the TransRockies’ Rundle’s Revenge ultra, the K-100 – a 100-mile relay race from Longview to Nakiska and the inaugural Banff Marathon.

“The next big races in the area are the High River Half-Marathon on July 1, which I guarantee is going to be cancelled,” Styczen says, “and the Stampede Road Race, which is the next weekend and who knows.”

Despite the massive devastation, Styczen has confidence that Calgary will bounce back quickly. “This is a resilient city and tough,” he says. “Stampede starts in 13 days and this city is going to be ready if not at full capacity.”