Alberta race directors collaborate on safe return to running, cycling and mountain biking season

Alberta athletes call for resumption of outdoor races Mark Villani reports on the calls on the provincial government to ease current restrictions that are preventing running and cycling races from being held.

CALGARY — Members of Alberta’s running and cycling communities have unveiled a proposal to the province in an effort to allow for a safe return to outdoor endurance races this summer.

The document prepared by Alberta Ultra Racing Association along with representatives from Run Calgary, 5-Peaks, TransRockies, and Sinister Sports Inc., outlines several measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

At the forefront are protocols that include capacity limits for runners in order to provide 50 per cent more space than required for the number of competitors at races and allow two metres distance at all times.

TransRockies Race Series president Aaron McConnell runs nine races, including two mountain biking events planned for this summer in Alberta.

He says events would take place with ‘wave starts’, which means small groups of competitors starting at different times so they can space out.

“Distancing is a big one and that happens pretty naturally out on the trails or on a race course, but we can also spread people out at the start and finish line with staggered starts,” McConnel said.

“There will be sanitation obviously, contactless pickups and aid stations, and everything will be done outside with masks when there is gathering.”

McConnel adds these protocols and the elimination of touch points have been implemented at several other races around the world with very little evidence of COVID-19 transmission.

In fact, a 2020 Japanese study of nearly 700,000 people who competed in 787 outdoor races in Japan from July to October found just one case of COVID-19.

Run Calgary executive director and Canadian Endurance Sports Alliance board member Kirsten Fleming agrees the proposal is safe and responsible.

"What we do is put on safe events and we know that using all of the tactics we’ve seen successfully done at ski hills that we can put that into a plan,” Fleming said.

“We think we can get back to somewhat normal numbers this season and have people back out and chasing those goals again.”

When a hospitalization benchmark is reached, decisions — including those regarding indoor or outdoor high intensity fitness — will be considered for the next step.

However, there is still no word from the province on whether or not these events can be given the green light. CTV Calgary has requested more information from Alberta’s ministry of health, but has yet to hear back.

According to Fleming, many conversations are still underway and the hope is to receive approvals as soon as possible so events can better prepare.

As a result, Run Calgary is putting on a ‘hybrid’ season by allowing runners to participate in events both virtually and in person, should restrictions allow.

Registration has yet to open for the Calgary Marathon, but the in-person event is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 19. Fleming says the race will not be nearly as large as the regular 15,000 plus crowds seen in the past and it may take place over the course of two days.

“We’ve moved it to the fall to give ourselves the best possible opportunity to have you know as many people as possible and give us a long runway to plan and execute that event with all the COVID safety protocols in place,” said Fleming.

Banff Marathon rescheduled to late summer

Organizers of the Banff Marathon has made the move to reschedule the in-person race to later on this calendar year.

Race director Paul Regensburg said the new date is Sept. 12, as opposed to the previous June 20 date.

“We figured that June was just too close with people trying to plan so we wanted to give them as much time as possible to reschedule and hopefully be able to come back and enjoy beautiful Banff in September,” he said.

“We’re still going to have a lot of COVID guidelines in place, we’ve eliminated all of our indoor activities so everything takes place completely outdoors in the open air where there’s great ventilation which seems to be a big part about not spreading COVID.”

The event will also have a heavy education and screening component for all participants to ensure people aren’t showing up with symptoms or feeling sick.

Banff’s event will also incorporate staggered starts, contactless package pickups and aid stations.

Regensburg notes that safety is the No. 1 priority, although there is a large economic benefit to running this year’s race.

“It’s almost $10 million in impact to the Bow Valley region, not to mention a great community event that raises money for charities and provides a safe activity especially in tough times like this,” he said.

More than 60 local businesses are involved in the event, including hundreds of volunteers.  Registration is now open online.

Following the Banff Marathon, the community also hopes to go forward with the Melissa’s road race just a couple weeks later on Sept. 25.

“We’ll encourage people to do both events,’ Regensburg said.

“We want running events to be the ski hills of the summer, to be part of the comeback and use our events as a nice safe step towards a somewhat normal life.”