Calgary Marathon adds 150K race for 2017 to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary
The Calgary Marathon announced that it will host a 150K race in 2017 as part of race weekend to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary.
To celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, the Calgary Marathon will be adding a special event to its race weekend. The race announced that there will be a 150K option for runners at next year’s event as Canada celebrates 150 years since the country’s confederation in 1867.
“The Confederation 150 is a 150K, solo certified race that will include [approximately] nine supported pathway loops beginning Saturday [May 27, 2017] that amount to 100K,” says Scotiabank Calgary Marathon executive director Kirsten Fleming. “Those solo runners will finish the first 100K at the start line of the mass race and begin their 101st kilometre at the start line on Sunday, May 28th, essentially finishing their last 50K on our closed 50K ultra road race route.”
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There has already been considerable interest among ultrarunners.
“There will also be a 150K relay where participants can run the 50K ultra road race [introduced in 2014] as a team for a collective time,” says Fleming referring to the 2017 event. Organizers are also looking to add in a provincial scoring component.
The 50K ultra road race has served as the national 50K championships for three consecutive years.
“Lastly, to make it accessible to all Canadians regardless of ability – we are scheming a virtual 150K where all runners can tick off their kilometres beginning Jan. 1 and complete the 150K on race day whether they are participating in the 5K, 10K, half-marathon or marathon so [one] can say they did 150K for Canada’s 150th anniversary,” adds Fleming.
The race will also be adding road mile, a rarely run event in Canada, on the Friday of race weekend. The one-mile event, known as the red and white birthday bash, will be an elite race with a Canada-themed party before and after.
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The 2016 race weekend is set for May 26-29. There will be a number of Guinness world record attempts at the end-of-May event this year.
The 2016 Calgary half-marathon is doubling as the Canadian half-marathon championships, which are set to go off at 6:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, May 29.
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