Boxing Day 10-miler facing critics

In 1905, before formal records were kept, renowned Canadian distance runner, Tom Longboat won the Hamilton Boxing Day 10-Miler. In a series of victories that included the Boston Marathon, and Around the Bay, the 10-miler was an important race in an era where distance-running contests ranked high in the esteem of the nation.

What began as an elite race with a time limit of 70 minutes transformed into a broader contest that continued to attract elite athletes such as Eric Gillis, Clara Hughes and Kyle Jones, but also drew runners from a wider cross section of ability and aspiration. In December of 2010, Runner’s World selected the Boxing Day 10-Miler as the race of the month.

This tradition may now be in jeopardy if the City of Hamilton’s Special Events Committee isn’t convinced of the value of a 92-year-old institution.

Organizing a race in a dense urban environment isn’t easy, says race director James Van Dyke. The challenges of consistently attracting athletes to the event require perpetual marketing. Logistical challenges also demand maintaining a delicate balance between the needs of city residents and the requirements of competitors — an aspect that Van Dyke constantly monitors and adjusts.

What Van Dyke did not expect was that a city that also boasted North America’s oldest foot race, The Around the Bay 30K, would ask him to rationalize the existence of the event.

“The Special Events Committee of Hamilton called me to a meeting,” he says, “and asked me to prove that the race was a worthy event, that it was worth the police commitment and worth inconveniencing people due to the inevitable traffic delays.”

The Committee referred to complaints they had received from constituents but when Van Dyke asked to see the complaints so that he could respond to them, the committee denied him access. The committee also refused to release the number of complaints they had received.

Races fold for a lot of different reasons including poor organization and public indifference. But for a race that has run for almost consecutively for 92 years, with a short hiatus during the Second World War, this may be the first event that will be cancelled because of inconvenience to people not running.

These grievances aren’t anything new.

During the 2012 Peterborough half-marathon, local media chose to focus on a resident who was delayed getting to her favourite diner for breakfast. During the last Toronto mayoral election, Rob Ford suggested that the two Toronto marathons should be removed from the streets and run on park trails in order to avoid hindering city motorists. A member of the Special Events Committee made a similar suggestion, forcing Van Dyke to explain the nightmare of trying to funnel nine hundred runners on to narrow, often snow-choked trails.

Van Dyke is patient and flexible. Ten years ago, the city asked him to re-design the 10-mile course in order to help solve traffic congestion.

“I met every one of their criteria,” says Van Dyke. “They questioned me about a delay at an intersection in the first half of the course that they believed was causing over an hour in delays. I told them that all runners had passed that point by the 42-minute mark.”

Van Dyke cares deeply about how the race is structured and represents the kind of civic pride that has always been the foundation for thriving communities.

“I feel it’s important to keep money local. Race-wear is made in Hamilton and medals are made in Toronto. We contract out timing and hire a company to set up the cones that mark the course but no one else here is making money. We are all volunteers,” remarks Van Dyke.

This may not be enough to bridge the gulf between athletes who value the tradition and character of the Boxing Day 10-miler and a much larger non-running population who simply doesn’t get it.