Marathon course more scenic this year
This column previously appeared in the Telegraph-Journal on August 3rd, 2010.
The article was written by FUSION Saint John’s Claire Ryan:
This weekend, runners and walkers will be taking over the city streets for the 16th Annual Tim Hortons Marathon by the Sea.
“This has been Saint John’s premier running event for fitness, family and fun for the past 15 years and we’re still running strong,” says event chairman Patrick Grannan. “Once again this year, we’ve offering something for runners and walkers of all ages and skill levels.”
There are five events this year: the Tim Hortons Marathon, the Scotiabank Half-Marathon, the Running Room 5-Miler, and the Smart Nordic Half-Marathon will all take place Sunday morning; the children’s event — the Timbits Harbour Hustle – will take place Saturday morning.
The event has undergone a lot of changes this year, including moving back to August after being held in late September the past few years. The route has also been redesigned, and will start and finish at Rockwood Park instead of in the uptown, as it has in the past. The changes have already had a positive impact on the event with registration numbers surpassing last year’s and runners coming from as far away as the United States, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Bermuda.
The new route will take runners through the uptown, north end and Mount Pleasant Avenue, with the half and full marathoners trekking over to the west side. The new route may no longer take runners “by the sea,” but it will highlight parts of the city that have undergone recent changes and significant improvement, the Rockwood Park area in particular.
“It’s a better course, and much more scenic,” says Don Lemon, who is running the half-marathon for the second year. “There are some nice challenges on the way out, but you can make up the time on the way back in. The course is much better than last year.”
The same sentiments were echoed by Joy Durdan, who will be running in the half-marathon for the 10th year in a row,
“I love the new route – it’s so scenic,” she says.
The new start/finish location is more conducive to making a day and weekend out of the event.
“We don’t want runners just showing up to run their race and then going home,” Grannan said.
“We want these runners to bring their friends and families along to be a part of this event and really make it a weekend-long celebration of fitness and fun.”
In addition to the activities offered at Rockwood Park, this year’s event is also being held in conjunction with the Saint John 225 Reunion 2010 Music Festival.
The 16th annual Tim Hortons Marathon by the Sea will take place this Saturday and Sunday. For more information on running, volunteering, or other opportunities to be involved you can visit www.marathonbythesea.com.
Claire Ryan is on the FUSION Saint John board. Reach her at cryan@mtlpr.ca.
