The Quarantine Challenge Virtual Race: the most interesting running challenge on the internet

The race directors of London, Ont.’s That Dam Hill, a popular Boston qualifier, are bringing runners a virtual race with a twist. The Quarantine Challenge Virtual Race is a race with prize money for the biggest percentage of improvement over a personal best.

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Free to enter, the challenge is designed as a spring motivation boost for runners to try and improve their PB. The solo virtual race options are 5K, 10K, 21.1K, 30K and 42.2K. The intent is for all levels and capabilities to have an equal shot at prize money, by using the percentage system.

Your best shot at the money

Your best shot at winning is to pick a distance you haven’t run in a while. For example, if you’ve been focused on the marathon for a few years, consider trying the 10K. Or, if your 30K PB happens to be from an Around The Bay race that you were training through, maybe gear up for the 30K of your life. The PB you’re most proud of, will also probably be the hardest to improve upon. This model encourages runners to try a distance they might not otherwise.

The team marathon relay

If you’d rather run as part of a team, there’s also the option to run a five-person marathon relay. The marathon relay is broken into five legs (four 8K legs, with the fifth runner completing the final 10.2K). There are time standards published depending on the age bracket and gender of your team, and the team with the highest percentage of time under that standard wins. There’s a $500 bonus for any team that beats the Canadian marathon record (2:24:50 for women and 2:09:25 for men).

The time standards:

All Male Team (39 and under): 3 hours 35 minutes

All Male Team (40 and over): 3 hours 50 minutes

All Female Team (39 and under): 4 hours 5 minutes

All Female Team (40 and over): 4 hours 20 minutes

Mixed Team (39 and under): 3 hours 50 minutes, minimum of 2 female runners per team

Mixed Team (40 and over): 4 hours 5 minutes, minimum of 2 female runners per team

The details

The window for completion is May 24 to May 31. Runners can sign up here. The prize money for the relay and solo races will be be given to first through third place: $500.00, $325.00 and $175.00.