Registrations for the first marathon in St. Albert history have exceeded expectations.
As of Wednesday, 1,150 runners had signed up for the 42-kilometre marathon, 21.1-km half marathon walk/run, 10-km walk/run, five-km walk/run and the WildOnes Marafun for kids.
“We’re elated,” said Anita Cassidy, race director for the RunWild Leading Edge Marathon on May 15. “Our goal was actually 1,000. We thought that was lofty at the time but we’ve exceeded it and we’ll probably be a little closer to 1,300 or 1,400 by race day.
“It’s one of the first races that has all of those events; the 5 K, the 10 K, the half and the full [marathons], plus the kids’ race so it’s really an event for everyone. You can get the family involved. Your kids can race. Your parents can race. You can walk if you want to.”
So far 150 registrations have been processed for the marathon.
“There has never been a marathon here and we have a huge running community in St. Albert so they get excited that there is something of this calibre in St. Albert,” Cassidy said.
The race will also help commemorate the city’s 150th birthday.
“It’s really St. Albert’s big event,” Cassidy said. “There has been a lot of hard work by many people put into this race and we are very pleased that the St. Albert community and surrounding communities have come out and really supported us.”
The deadline to register online is 11:59 p.m. May 10 at www.RunWild.ca.
Registrations will also be accepted at any Running Room location.
The marathon gets rolling at 7 a.m. in front of St. Albert Place. Runners wind their way up Sturgeon Road to the city’s ravines, and then by road they pass through the Akinsdale and Pinewood neighbourhoods before heading down Sir Winston Churchill Avenue and out to the Sturgeon Valley Golf & County Club. Back in St. Albert along Bellerose Drive, runners go through the Oakmont neighbourhood before joining the trail system that leads past Lacombe Park Lake and Deer Ridge. After crossing the Sturgeon River, they race up Grandin Road, then turn right on Levasseur Road and eventually work their way through Riel Park to Millennium Park, the finish line area for all the races.
“Right now the [Sturgeon] river is high and the marathon route goes under the Boudreau, Perron and St. Albert Trail bridges and I’m anxious about what Mother Nature is going to do for us. If the river doesn’t go down in time I need to re-route my marathoners,” Cassidy said.
A strong volunteer drive has organizers on target to reach the 250 mark.
“We’ve had a really good response. We’re probably at about 230 or 240 right now. We still need some more because I would rather have more volunteers than not enough just to make sure everything runs really well,” Cassidy said. “We need still a few course marshals directing the runners and people for the water stations. We’re going to have about 20 water stations along the route and we really want to have enough people to hand out the water and the electrolytes to the runners as they’re going by.”
The event is also a fundraiser for the Edmonton-based Zebra Child Protection Centre. The non-profit organization enables the community to respond to child abuse with a professional, compassionate and highly integrated program of healing and justice. The website is www.zebracentre.ca.
For more information on the St. Albert Marathon, contact Cassidy at 780-458-2669.
