70 Cabot Trail Relay teams announced

Team lists have been announced for the 32nd annual Cabot Trail Relay, the storied 24-hour stage race that starts and ends in Baddeck, N.S. over the May 25-26 weekend.

RELATED: Cabot Trail Relay upset topples Maine team’s seven-year reign

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As many as 1,200 runners descend on Baddeck for the race, which covers 185 miles (276.33K) of gorgeous scenery and killer hills in Cape Breton National Park and is run in 17 stages. The race site warns that the course is demanding and that runners must be able to hold a 9:30-minute mile pace (between 5:50 and 5:55 per kilometre) on the hilly course.

Otherwise, the event does not take itself too seriously, and the entire community joins in the festivities, with teams dressing in crazy costumes and lining the highway to cheer their runners on. This year’s race will have 70 teams, and there is a wait list. Though most are from the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, this year’s race has a team from Alberta. (They’re called Suckers for Punishment.)

The 2018 edition saw an upset by the Halifax Road Hammers men’s team secure victory over the Maine-iacs, a team from Maine that had previously won the race seven years in a row, but who lagged eight minutes behind the Road Hammers last year.

Enjoy this short video from the Halifax Road Hammers’ men’s team, who are excited to defend their title this year. (Unfortunately, technical problems prevented them from completing the women’s team video, but they promise to rectify that this year.)