Everything you need to know about the upcoming weekend of road racing

This weekend is a huge weekend on the roads: you’ve got the Chilly Half-Marathon in Burlington, the Tokyo Marathon in Japan, the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta, the Vitality Big Half in London and the Pan Am Cross-Country Cup in Victoria.

RELATED: 11 countries confirmed for Pan Am Cross-Country Cup in Victoria

With such a jam-packed weekend of road (and XC) action, here’s everything you need to know about each event from top storylines and event logistics to where to find live results.

U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials – Saturday, February 29 at 12:03 p.m. ET

On Saturday afternoon, USATF will have named the first six members of their Olympic team. Three men and three women will qualify for the Games on Saturday, and the race is one you won’t want to miss.

The big contenders in the women’s race are Sara Hall (Asics), Des Linden (Brooks), Molly Huddle (Saucony), Jordan Hasay (Nike) and Emily Sisson (New Balance). On the men’s side, the favourites are Galen Rupp (Nike), Leonard Korir (Nike), Scott Fauble (Hoka) and Jared Ward (Saucony). Another runner to watch in the men’s field is ultra runner Jim Walmsley, who’s taking his first crack at the road marathon.

The event is being broadcast live on the NBC Olympic Channel. Don’t have cable? You can buy an NBC Olympic pass, which lets you stream almost the entire track and road racing season online.

Live results can be found here.

RELATED: Atlanta Track Club to deliver nearly 4,000 personal bottles at Olympic Trials

Pan Am Cross-Country Cup – Saturday, February 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET

Victoria, B.C. is hosting the Pan Am Cross-Country Cup which will see four Canadian teams competing alongside visitors from 10 other countries. The Pan Am committee has announced that Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela are all ready to race. The teams will be sending both junior and senior squads. The senior men and women will both run 10K and the juniors will compete over 8K for the men and 6K for women.

The teams include some of Canada’s best runners, like 10,000m record holder Natasha Wodak, 3,000m steeplechase record-holder Gen Lalonde, World Championship competitor John Gay and 2018 U Sports Cross-Country champion Connor Black.

Schedule of events

9:00 a.m. PT – 5K Community Race
10:00 a.m. PT – 6K Junior Women Pan Am Cup
10:40 a.m. PT – 8K Junior Men Pan Am Cup
11:20 a.m. PT – 1.6K Nations Cup (kids)
11:45 a.m. PT – 10K Senior Women Pan Am Cup
1:00 p.m. PT – 10K Senior Men Pan Am Cup
1:40 p.m. PT – 5K Youth Cup
2:15 p.m. PT – 5K Can Am Race 1
2:50 p.m. PT – 5K Can Am Race 2

The live feed can be found here.

Live results can be found here.

Tokyo Marathon – Saturday, February 29 at 7:10 p.m. ET

The Tokyo Marathon will be a small one this year, with under 200 entries as the mass participation race was cancelled due to coronavirus. However, one of the entrants is former Canadian record-holder Rachel Cliff.

Cliff will be looking to secure her spot on the upcoming Olympic team. She’s currently the third-ranked Canadian woman in the marathon (and three will make the team), but to ensure her position, she’ll be looking to better her personal best, which is 2:26:56.

Live results can be found here.

London Vitality Big Half – Sunday, March 1 at 4:00 a.m. ET

The top billing of the London Big Half is Lawrence Cherono versus Kenensa Bekele. The pair both have half-marathon personal bests at just over 60 minutes and will be facing off early Sunday morning. Up next for Bekele is this spring’s London Marathon, where he’ll face world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge in a head-to-head battle.

Results can be found here.

Chilly Half-Marathon – Sunday, March 1 at 8:00 a.m. ET

The Chilly Half doesn’t have the same international draw as the Tokyo Marathon or Pan Am Cup, but it’s very important locally. Lots of runner use this race as a tune-up before their spring marathon, and the race draws a big contingent of local elites.

Results can be found here.