On this edition of iRun Radio:
We’ll talk to elite runner Dayna Pidhoresky, on how she’s managing all of the uncertainty around when she’ll be able to run the Olympic marathon. Fred Fox, Terry’s older brother, will also join us to share some memories and talk about the virtual edition of the run this year. And Canadian Olympian Reid Coolsaet, who is adapting like everyone else this year, and also has some interesting comments about some of the new running shoe technology.
On this edition of iRun Radio:
Legendary coach and runner Jeff Galloway will be with us to talk about how he and so many other runners are adjusting to these unusual times. Hannah Sung is one of so many new runners in 2020, people who weren’t able to swim or go to the gym and turned to running instead. We’ll hear what she has experienced this year. And an incredible story of a runner named Sam Heath who suffered a heart attack after a run, fell into a coma, and then came back to his training. Running, he says, saved his life.
On this edition of iRun Radio:
We’ll talk to a runner who only discovered trail running after she moved across the country. A woman shares how a wintry run brought back disturbing memories and how she dealt with that. And longtime runner and writer Michael Doyle on the lessons of elite marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge.
There is no doubt that on November 7, 2020, Chris Nikic changed the world by becoming the first person with Down syndrome to finish an Ironman. But in reality, he, his family and his coach have been changing the world for the past two years as Chris journeyed from a sprint triathlon to an Ironman 70.3 and, ultimately, to Ironman Florida. Process is the key to all goals because even without the finish line, Chris is an extraordinary example of: “Don’t tell me what I cannot do. Let me tell you what I can do.” We could all use a bit of that in our lives right now. I spoke with Chris the other day.
“I was born a Down syndrome kid and the next day, I was an Ironman,” he said.
When you meet someone with Down syndrome, you feel love. Alex, the son of one of my dearest friends, has Down syndrome. And for 20 years, I have seen Alex full of joy and love and acting as the family’s social butterfly. In fact, when I think of Alex and now having experienced Chris’s spirit, I refer to their condition as Up syndrome because there is nothing “Down” about either of them. When I asked Chris what message he would like to put on a billboard, he said, without hesitation, “Love and Hugs!” I don’t think you or I could have answered so quickly or so emphatically.
“Love and Hugs” are Chris’ favourite things about triathlon. The social interactions and the people are his rewards for all the training and the learning. Hugs, he says, are his “fourth sport.”
A little background about Chris and what he’s accomplished: he is 21-years-old and lives in Maitland, Florida. And an Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile ride and a 26.2-mile run. Personally, I have raced 33 Ironman races and won eleven. Let me tell you: it is one of the hardest sports in the world and has inflicted both pain and pleasure on tens of thousands of finishers each year. But in 2020, COVID-19 put Ironman in its own pain-cave as most races were cancelled and athletes had to pivot and adapt. Not only did Chris finish one of the most demanding events in endurance sports, but he did it amidst a pandemic. Chris has thrived in spite of Down syndrome and COVID-19. He is our Athlete of the Year, and his accomplishment adds a significant exclamation point to his Guinness Book World Record.
He told me: “Every child needs to realize that we can do anything. They can all get their dreams like me.”
Nik Nikic, Chris’s father, says he found peace in seeing his son cross the Ironman finish line. “I would cry like a baby when he finished the other races en route to the full Ironman,” he said, “but when he was in those last miles of the marathon and crossed the finish line, I was at peace. I didn’t cry because his finish meant that anything was possible. It meant that Chris would be OK.” Nik had long been Chris’s “person” but now, Chris had his coach and guide, Dan Grieb. And that partnership, that freedom, represented a significant step toward his boy’s independence. Nik told me, after seeing his son finish: “I know Chris is going to be OK on his own.”
Learning any sport is often a “one-step forward, one-step back” challenge. Now picture yourself in Chris’s shoes finding the coordination and balance to walk – a skill often taken for granted – and finally mastering it at 4 years old. Remember when you learned to ride a bike? Eventually, Chris learned that skill as well. With his indomitable will, patient mother and father and a spirit that cannot be defined by textbook statistics, he wiped out all of the limitations imposed when he was born with a third chromosome.
Like most of us, even all of us—like me and you—he found joy and courage in sport. Thanks to the Special Olympics, he discovered swimming and running. In 2018, Chris completed his first sprint triathlon at Lake Louisa State Park, in Clermont, Florida. Now, Chris was no longer just an athlete. He was rewriting the rules of Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a genetic disorder resulting in an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21. This extra genetic material results in developmental delays, learning disabilities and medical abnormalities. That is why walking and riding a bike were huge hurdles for Chris. But in overcoming these obstacles and making triathlon part of his personal DNA, Chris’s cognitive ability, lung health, self-esteem and social connections all flourished. Penicillin may have been one of history’s greatest antibiotics, but exercise and physical activity is the best prescription for wellness of mind and body.
I know that many have found comfort in sport over the past nine months as we were all faced with the uncertainty of COVID-19. And we still are. But there is a sense of pride, normalcy and fulfillment in finishing a workout. And that satisfaction empowered us to handle the blows—the lack of “hugs and love” during quarantine.
Chris didn’t need antibiotics during the pandemic. He had a goal. No one was going to tell him how his life would unfold. He would do an Ironman and prove to himself and the world that he—and anyone with any disease or disorder or impairment—can accomplish the impossible. “The kids are saying to their moms I want to be like him and get their own cars and their own house and their smoking hot blondes just like me,” Chris says, with a laugh. In Chris’s example, we have all learned that with heart and belief, every one of us can redefine our potential and exceed expectations. When you are driven by what’s inside, everything becomes possible. “Don’t tell me what I cannot do. Let me tell you what I can do.” These are words we all need to be reminded of today.
Yes, Ironman Florida was hard. Chris trained and competed with Dan Grieb. Dan, you are an angel and a miracle maker. Thank you for sharing your talent and treasure to turn a dream into reality. “‘Anything is possible’ did not include kids with Down syndrome and now it does,” he says. “I’m proud to be part of it.”
Chris was not afraid. Even 2K from shore during the 3.8K open water swim, Chris was brave. One stroke at a time, he would finish that leg of his race.
Onto the bike, Chris stopped every 20 minutes for fuel, which consisted of fluid and gels. His balance was challenged a few times. He fell down. But a tumble wasn’t going to keep him from the finish line. He’d fallen down before. And he got up every time.
When there was doubt, Chris would silence that negativity.
“I put my negative thoughts in a dumpster with the stinky garbage,” he told me.
Ironically, I suggest to my athletes to put their doubts in a bag and tie it to a tree and go back and get it later, after the race. At 21-years-old, Chris had the wisdom to “dump” negative feelings and never look back.
And yes, there was pain. Of course there was pain. After swimming more than two miles and biking more than one hundred miles, he had to run a marathon. It hurts. Chris, however, had devised a coping mechanism. He says, “I told the pain to go away.”
Toward the end of the race, toward his march into history, Chris was surrounded by his favourite thing about sport – the people, and the “hugs and love.” In the words of Terry Fox: “One step at a time, one pole at time, one mile at a time.”
Chris Nikic, the first athlete ever with Down syndrome, crossed the finish line at Ironman Florida in 16 hours, 46 minutes and 9 seconds. Faster athletes may have reached the finish line first, but trust me — Chris was the champion that day. And it appears he’s just getting started. Two weeks later, Chris was honoured with the Local Hero Award by the governor of Florida. He will also be on the triathlon team for the USA Games for the Special Olympics. Next up is Challenge Daytona and Chris’s goal is to ride with a constant pace for the entire bike leg. He will check out the course so that there are no surprises. The learning has not stopped in spite of his success.
I suggested Chris spearhead a 3-person relay team with two of his friends with Down syndrome. That would be another way to “live the message” and embrace all that Chris’s finish and journey means to his Down syndrome community.
Chris also may join in the RODS 2100 – The Journey Home relay starting on March 21, 2021. RODS—Racing for Orphans with Down syndrome—raises money to support families wanting to adopt a child with his genetic disorder. This 2100-mile relay race takes runners through eight American states and past the homes of ten families who have adopted children with Down syndrome. Rob Wight, director for RODS Racing and Alex’s dad, said at the finish line: “Who would have imagined that 2020 would turn out to be the best year of my life? Nik and I watched as Alex put the finisher medal on Chris. The world saw this and realized that for all people, no matter what, anything is possible.”
In the meantime, Chris will continue to train, get strong, build confidence and develop his skills in preparation to race at the 2021 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. What a perfect place for Chris to feel and share “Love and Hugs,” Hawaiian style. Aloha, Chris – and welcome to the Ironman family from everyone here in Canada. Continue to lead with heart, you inspire all of us, despite the obstacles, to finish what you start.
You are the 2020 Sportstats iRunner of the Year.
Lisa Bentley is an 11-time Ironman Champion, author of An Unlikely Champion, speaker and coach. Lisa has Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic lung disease that causes an abnormal amount of mucus to accumulate in the lungs. This leads to chronic lung infections, lung damage, lung transplant and ultimately early death. Lisa says that CF is her superpower. She should not have won a single race. But, like Chris, she turned a “no” into a “yes” and found a way where there was no way. Lisa is an ASICS ambassador and continues to embrace sport every day. You can find her at www.lisabentley.com and lisa@lisabentley.com.
Bahamas was a star on Toronto’s Queen Street West before he made his first solo record. As the guitarist for Leslie Feist during the peak of her commercial success, Bahamas played Saturday Night Live and the Grammys and understood the spotlight before deciding to step out on his own, and stepping into it. Playing with local legends like Jason Collett and his first band, Paso Mino, who became Zeus, Bahamas, born Afie Jurvanen, lived many musical lives before introducing himself to the public—inventing a new persona, a new sound, a new lane.
“I was lucky to be part of these things without a huge spotlight on me through my growing pains and so when it came time to play my own music, I felt comfortable with who I am,” says Bahamas, who decamped from Toronto to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2018, where he’s begun recording personal videos on his social media channels to promote his new album, Sad Hunk, in lieu of touring. “As a creative person, it’s a nice place to get to—you don’t take it for granted, but you can count on it: that you can just get onstage and be yourself.”
Everything Bahamas has done has been unique, and the triumvirate of his genre, career path and persona is one of a kind. Lately, the personality that’s emerged behind his promotional cycle for the record Sad Hunk—a nickname bestowed by his wife after noticing one too many brooding promotional appearances—has been one of ramshackle dad and would-be athlete. Whether skipping rope or jogging along the Nova Scotia shoreline, Bahamas has leaned into his role as goofball father and the results have been as charming as every track on his warm and touching fifth disc.
“I never thought in a million years I could put out a record and not go on tour, but this is shaping up to be the best year of our family’s life,” says Bahamas, adding this his kids—at 3 and 5—are now at the age where they can go out exploring “with minimal crying, for everyone, including mom and dad.”
Bahamas says, “I grew up fishing and hunting, getting lost and riding my bike and we can do that out here in Nova Scotia. We live on the ocean and it’s nice to wake up and be part of the earth’s energy.”
For an artist whose last album was called Earthtones, the notion of being connected to something certainly larger than commercial success or stroking one’s ego looms large. As every runner knows, and Bahamas is learning through his explorations in movement, happiness isn’t something that someone can give you. Often, it’s something you have to find on your own.
“If I fantasized about anything as a teenager, it was less about being a rockstar and more about being an artist, which to me means deciding what you’re doing with your time—that’s true freedom, and I hope that everybody has that: something in your life that makes you feel free.”
A fan of the American Navy Seal turned ultramarathon star David Goggins, whose book Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds should be on everybody’s holiday must-read list, Bahamas has been playing with limits, both in terms of artistic ambition and his own workouts. In one recent video, Bahamas is seen running in a rainstorm, smiling, and he says to the camera: “Embrace the suck.”
“Goggins’ motivation comes from not being defined by your lowest points and I connected to that, not that I want to be an ultramarathon runner, but I like the idea that success starts in your mind,” he says. “You get up in the morning and it’s cold and wet and you don’t want to go run outside, but you know that once you do, even for a moment, you feel like the King of the World.”
Bahamas has won Junos and, in addition to his work with Feist, has toured with Robert Plant and the Lumineers. He’s lived out his dreams, forged his own path in the music industry and today, raising his family and releasing his music during a global pandemic, the musician says he feels refreshed, and free.
“If your kids grow up around music, art, exercise, good food and literature, if they see it’s part of your life, the kids grow up through osmosis,” he says. “It’s a great motivator to live your best life and put work in everyday. When your kids see you living that life, you don’t have to teach them anything.”
To follow Bahamas on Instagram, see @BahamasMusic. To hear the new album, and see him smiling on the album cover, see BahamasMusic.net.
Ciele is a Canadian company launched in Montreal in 2014 and their headgear has become ubiquitous amongst certain runners in the know. Comfortable, stylish and independently-owned and operated, Ben Kaplan talked to Jeremy Bresnen, founder of Ciele Athletics, on his victory for Winter Toque of the Year.
Ben Kaplan: How do you position yourself as a global brand based in Canada?
Jeremy Bresnen: The reality of launching a brand now, or anytime in the past few years, is that the expectation is that you’re global from day one. Instagram did that. A month after we launched somebody posted a photo of them at the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps with a rainbow in the background wearing the chaka edition of our GOCap. We were global then, without really trying. We do our best to be available for runners around the world, but there are logistical barriers that not everyone sees, or understands. It can be frustrating, because you want to be there for customers worldwide, and there are great opportunities that present themselves, but you can also grow too fast, open too many doors, and ultimately lose visibility on how the brand is being presented. At the end of the day, we’re OK taking more time opening up new countries to truly become a global brand, to ensure that we do it in the right way and can support the community on the ground in a meaningful way.
BK: What makes you a Canadian company?
JB: The idea for Ciele Athletics was birthed on runs to work along the St Lawrence River. We’re headquartered in the borough of Notre Dame de Grace in Montréal, Québec, Canada. We have a satellite office in Vancouver, British Columbia. We test all of our products on the roads and trails around our city. Early on, after Montreal, we found customers and then FAM in Toronto and then Vancouver and then every other Canadian city and we’re clearly influenced by that, both in our approach to product design but also in our approach to people and community. We’re bilingual, welcoming, open, considerate and.. we likely say sorry more often than we should.
BK: I first saw your hats at BlackToe running and they were everywhere; I mean to say: you seem to have come up grassroots. Was that part of your game plan, initiating yourself into the core running community and then becoming more widespread?
JB: We started a run brand. The crux of it is that it’s rooted in the runners we know and have met along the way. Since day one, we’ve tried to surround ourselves with good people, and—within our capacity—find ways to support them. The majority of the relationships we started in the early days are still going strong. The people closest to us—we call them FAM—are like a real family; they can’t leave, they’re stuck with us. That circle continues to open doors for us, make introductions and give us the insight needed to build a world class brand, company and community.
BK: What are the ambitions for your company? What does success look like?
JB: We want to continue to design and build the very best in performance headwear for runners and adventurers of all kinds. We are known for headwear and believe there’s still so many great products to develop and build in that category. We often say “we started at the top” and as such, we have plans to build beyond headwear. Our NSBTshirt was a glimpse of that. We took a basic T and turned it into something that could meet the demands of our customer who sees running as their core activity, but also wants to represent the brand and the sport beyond their run. More to come. We promise. Our brand’s connection with the community is the most important aspect of what we do. We need to do right by them. We aren’t chasing a number or a milestone from a sales standpoint, we’re more comfortable growing at a pace we can maintain and that allows us to focus on what we feel is good for our friends, family and customers. We’ve always been conscious of that, but we’re getting better at it and really believe that if we get that right… Success.
BK: And lastly: what’s the trick to your style? How do you get it just right? Millions of hats exist in the world. But only one Ciele. So. . . how did you know you could do it differently?
JB: Good question. Back in 2014, we started with a cap because we simply couldn’t find a running cap that met our needs technically. They were clearly an afterthought in most company’s design schedules. They lacked breathability, sun protection and often, comfort. Beyond that we just wanted a cap that we actually liked, that we might choose to wear on days or in moments that we weren’t running. That meant there was an opening to do something different. We weren’t sure what to expect when we first launched – were there people out there that felt the same way as us, and wanted the same thing? We’re still here six years later so thankfully there is a section of the running community that really cares about the same things as us. In terms of style? We really believe that style is relative. It’s on you to figure out how to wear what we offer up and we work hard to offer, in our own way, a lot of options that allow you to find the right fit, always with the idea that we build our products to run in.
When asked to write the 2020 iRun finale, I knew it would be a challenge. Even Oxford Dictionaries found it difficult to summarize 2020, describing it as “a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word.” So it lived up to one of its words of the year, “unprecedented,” by choosing a list of words instead of just one.
Pandemic, virtual, social distancing, quarantine, isolation, lockdown, unmute, Zoom, the new normal, remotely, bubble, personal protective equipment…these words have taken new meaning in 2020. So here’s a reflection on what some of these words have meant in my running life, our running lives, and how I aim to focus on the good to provide hope and faith in a better tomorrow, saying goodbye to 2020 and welcoming 2021:
January was a rough start to the year as I continued waiting to learn about what happened to a female athlete and my now former coach. The story was being researched as far back as 2006 and dozens of people were being contacted for interviews. I ran the Robbie Burns 8K as a rust buster to start my season.
February is when the story was finally published. I was heartbroken and disturbed, to name only a few of my many emotions. It rocked the entire Canadian running community. I can’t write a simple statement to summarize a positive outcome from this, but will state the words she said after the story was made public, “I am not working from this place of anger or resentment, and that I really just want healing and positive change to come from this.
March is when I ran my second and final official 2020 race, the Chilly Half Marathon. Because I was to do the New York City Half Marathon two weeks later, Reid Coolsaet, Olympian and coach, had me use it as a workout with 2K hard and 1K moderate. It went well and I was looking forward to testing my fitness in the Big Apple. Twelve days later and the kids’ one week break was at the beginning of what would be six months, and we were quickly learning more about what the World Health Organization had just declared as a pandemic. Spring races were cancelled and the Tokyo Olympics were postponed by the International Olympic Committee.
April 20th did not mark my 20th marathon, in Boston. In-person races were being completed as virtual races, and while some runners decided to call it a season to rest for another, or take advantage of the time to recover from a nagging injury, others were gearing up for personal bests at time trials and other equally impressive performances. Across the world where countries were enforcing strict rules to help control the virus, runners were desperately jogging around their dining room tables, balconies and backyards in the most bizarre yet creative challenges to maintain physical and mental health.
May marked the beginning of a few time trials that would give purpose to my training and put something in my calendar. Homeschooling and Zooming were now routine with many parents feeling the pressure of juggling online learning and working from home. The simplicity of running provided some normalcy and an output for those trying to make this new life work. Many completed events to support very worthwhile causes; mine included #NovaScotiaStrong for the victims of the Portapique mass murder and #IRunwithMaud to support the BIPOC community.
June was likely the month that most parents completely gave up on monitoring screen time. Some simply needed the time to themselves while others were fed-up with boredom and nowhere to go. I finished my three-month home teaching contract with my own kids, praying school would resume again in the fall. Fall marathons were being cancelled. Front line and health care workers would continue being our heroes.
July and August were fairly normal months for our family with much time spent at our cabin. Meeting up for a few runs with one or two friends made my routine feel a bit more normal as the socially isolating runs were getting a bit boring and lonely. Masks became mandatory in public spaces while race directors continued to think of ways to survive.
September was the big test of something new—children returning to school in cohorts, wearing masks. Ontario officially announced its second wave at the end of the month and continued measures were being taken to keep schools open. Many parents would opt for learning at home. Runners took advantage of the weather and continued completing time trials and again replacing marathons with their virtual substitutions. After my own summer of fairly non-specific training, I completed decent 5K and 10K time trials then switched gears to prepare for my first ultra marathon, which would be on the trails. While I thought I’d finish my marathon chapter before starting this one, I figured it was the perfect time to get out of my comfort zone and learn something new, which would keep me running for longer.
October included the marathon relay challenge created by Athletics Canada and the Canada Running Series to provide athletes a fun and competitive virtual event and opportunity for community connection. I joined forces with three other women from Bayfront Endurance, the group I was helping lead in Hamilton with Reid Coolsaet and Anthony Romaniw, and completed my own 42.2 km on the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon weekend.
November had my debut ultra trail run in place of the New York City Marathon, one of the few World Marathon Majors left on my bucket list with Tokyo and Chicago. I was able to join a small group from Oakville to run a route similar to the Sulphur Springs trail race while staying physically distanced and following other protocols. The course was marked, equipped with aid stations, and I was happy to be doing what I love with beautiful trees and blankets of leaves around me. The 54K in 5:04 with a 1,224 m elevation gain gave me a new start to something exciting, leaving me ready for more. I have a drawer full of medals I’ve earned over the years, but this 2020 medal will have a meaning of its own. A week after completing this event my family said goodbye to our sweet dog of nearly 16 years. I wasn’t running, the days were cloudy and dark, and the house was quiet and empty. It was tough and the first time I felt this way in a long time with the heaviness of the last eight months. Getting outside, walking, planning small tasks, and simply letting time heal was my best way to recover.
December will be a relaxed month as I steadily progress back to running. Reid and I have already discussed a spring goal that will have me excited to resume training in the new year. The Christmas season will look and feel different for all of us but we will continue to modify and make the best of it by creating new traditions and ways of doing things. Throughout the month I will be supporting the Canadian Endurance Sport Alliance to show how important our racing community and industry is to Canada. It’s important that I give back to a community that has given so much to me. I must help them survive. Please join me by sharing what races mean to you using #StartLineImpact with your best race memories while tagging your local government officials, brands, and running news media.
I conclude by continuing to encourage a message of gratitude—being thankful, appreciative and kind. Let us have hope as we desire and trust for a better year, and faith as we must believe in what we cannot see.
Onward,
Krista
Let’s face it: this year kinda sucked. Between the global pandemic and the ravished economy, the cancellation of races and our inability to gather with the people we love, 2020 will go down, for many of us, as one to survive and not one to relive. However, as we head into the holidays and take solace in the fact that we’re still here, and there’s still beauty and joy in the world and that we—as runners—have a gift that many of our slower friends do not: we are able to spark joy in ourselves whenever we lace up our shoes.
Earlier this month, we sent out a survey to our 200,000 readers, asking you folks what made you happy this year.
New Balance Canada is the 2020 iRun Brand of the Year. Runners said New Balance is a brand that they trust. “Every brand needs the innovation piece that’s super cool and makes you go faster, but the core of it is you need a daily exercise shoe to move forward and that’s what drives the New Balance brand,” says Dave Korrell, category manager for performance at New Balance Canada, and a longtime ambassador of our sport. “It’s what New Balance has been trying to do for 114 years—since 1906—to be that independent company that’s true to it’s values, and reliable. I think that’s become even more essential during COVID-19.”
Not only did NB take Brand of the Year, but their 860 sneaker earned top ranks as our Best Running Shoe. It’s apparent, as we saw many exciting new launches in 2020, that what runners craved was value and dependability. Angrily, as the world spun, runners wanted stability in their sneakers.
“It doesn’t take something fancy to get people out the door,” says Korrell, who’s spent 14 years with the company and came up running track and working at iconic Runner’s Choice in Kingston, Ontario. “Innovation will always be essential, but New Balance always also has stood for dependability—it means a lot that our message rings true.” In a year marked by disruption, Korrell is quick to point out that of all the lines of New Balance sneakers—including basketball shoes worn by someone named Kawhi—it’s the 880s first, and the 860s second, running shoes, that sold most for the brand this year.
“We haven’t been over-the-top this year about tooting our horn. We were listening, learning and delivering, and from Victoria to Halifax, we’re optimistic that the running boom we saw in April will only continue this spring,” says Korrell. “New Balance Canada is doing everything possible to amplify this boom in the new year.”
Runner’s up for your 2020 brands of the year: 2. ASICS. 3. Saucony. 4. Brooks.
From the best running shoes to the warmest tights to the perfect face mask to just an old-fashioned pair of cool-looking kicks, Reebok has everything you need to keep the athlete in your life active this holiday season. Below, a selection of greatest hits, and please note: each product name is hyperlinked to the Reebok site where the goods can be purchased. Happy holidays!
Reebok Floatride Energy Symmetros Running Shoes
Reebok Workout Ready Active Backpack
The global race director community is collaborating at absolutely epic proportions. Thousands of experts, the experts, in operations, health and safety, communications, emergency preparedness, crowd control and medical response — are working towards the safe return to racing. It’s impressive and if you’re a runner, you should be informed, hopeful, even optimistic.
Everything is different now. And pulling back the curtain feels like a necessary step to the safe return to racing. Race directors are trained, highly skilled and experienced event professionals who always put the safety of participants first. We just haven’t had to talk about it. It’s understood that when you register, you will have a safe route to run on and if you get a mid-race cramp or god-forbid something worse, trained medical personnel will be dispatched to help you. Our sponsors partner with us because they trust us to represent their brand and our municipal officials permit our events because they know we provide a service that benefits our community.
As we work towards the safe return to racing, these implied contracts are being tested. Organizers face many barriers, including but not limited to clear and consistent guidance from government and public health officials, stakeholder support and consumer confidence. Here’s five things readers of iRun can do—today—to ensure the return of their favourite races.
1. Register for virtual races, aka #runnow2runlater
The number one thing you can do to ensure your favourite race is there to go back to is to support that organization now. Heck, if you have the means, build in a couple of virtual experiences a month into your routine. To those waiting on the sidelines for in-person races to return and perhaps even vehemently against paying for a virtual race, with love, we wish you would reconsider. Remember early in the pandemic when we all agreed to do takeout once a week to save the neighborhood restaurant? And committed to buying local rather than from the big box store? Signing up for a virtual race is the equivalent of ordering Yami rolls from Hana Sushi or buying another set of PJs you really don’t need from Steeling Home (my two support local purchases this week). Race organizations are mostly small businesses and not-for-profits, such as the all-female not-for-profit team at Manitoba Marathon and the small family-owned business that employs 17 people across the country, Canada Running Series. We are trying to keep our doors open and awesome staff employed so we are positioned to hit the ground running when we can host in-person events again. Decades of staff experience and organizational continuity are how we put on exceptional, safe events.
2. Advocate for the safe return to racing
Remember how I told you the best minds in the business have collaborated on the safe return to racing? People WAY smarter than me. Well, folks… it’s working. Small, medium and even some larger events have taken place putting COVID-secure protocols into practice. A study by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations found that between July 1 and October 4, 787 competitions with COVID-protocols in place saw a total of 571,401 athletes and 98,035 officers and referees, and only one person was reported infected within the period. ONE! Going to a controlled outdoor event is not the same as a social gathering. If there is an in-person race taking place in your Canadian city or town (I can’t speak to other parts of the world), it’s very likely public health officials have reviewed the plans, feel confident in the protocols and are allowing it.
3. See an in-person race on the calendar? GO!
I apologize (as a good Canadian does) for being the bearer of bad news: mass participation events as you fondly remember them (the ones with 20,000+ people and all the fanfare deserving of finish line high-fives and hugs) are unlikely to be the same in 2021. In addition to being operational wizards, we are dedicated to innovation and building mega-experiences meant to thrill, entice and keep you coming back. The safe return to racing requires stripping the extras away and asking you to trust us and come anyways. It’s not realistic to go from NO events, right back to the events of 2019. We must crawl before we walk and walk before we run. Here are a few race terms you will be hearing next season: COVID-secure, flow-through, socially distanced, contactless event.
So 1) if you’re healthy; 2) you are confident in the COVID-secure plans you have reviewed, and 3) you don’t have a financial barrier, be an early adopter and sign up for your city’s ‘Welcome back 5K.’ Temper your expectation and give the organization constructive feedback, after all: we are all in this together.
4. Help grow the pie.
So many things have changed during the last eight months, many for the worse, and some for the better. The focus on mental health, longevity and wellbeing, less distractions and more time has led a lot of new folks to fitness. Your neighbour now walks 45 minutes a day, Uncle Joe bought a mountain bike, your wife started running again on the treadmill after the kids went to bed and your boss does Zumba in her living room between your morning team meeting and afternoon webinar.
There are a lot of new people enjoying the endless benefits of exercise. Encourage them, facilitate it by planning activity-based connections; heck, gift them a virtual experience this holiday season and take them to their first COVID-secure race in 2021.
Everyone benefits from a healthier planet of humans.
5. Share your #StartLineImpact through December 31.
Race withdrawal is real and with the 2020 season a write-off (with very few outliers), both runners and race directors are right to be concerned about 2021, especially given the current state of the pandemic, with increased cases and many parts of Canada in or about to go into another lockdown. Please note I am not advocating for events NOW, but when it’s safe again to manage.
One can argue that not delivering in-person races in 2020 was necessary because there was too much we didn’t understand. Not being able to erect start lines in 2021—despite COVID-secure plans—doesn’t make sense when people are meandering through grocery stores and kids are playing organized sport. Not having start lines in 2021 will have a significant impact on the long-term viability of many race organizations and there is research to support cases are not being linked back to controlled outdoor gathering with covid-secure measures in place.
According to the Canadian Endurance Sports Alliance (CESA is a race director driven association created as a result of the crisis to bring organizers together and have a unified voice in Ottawa), 65% of Canadian endurance events (triathlons, road races, cycling and ultra-events and experience events or fun runs) will disappear in 2021 should there be no additional funding or a path to the safe return to racing. The loss of start lines is having a very real impact on our small businesses and not-for-profits, not to mention the charities we support and the many amazing vendors, like timing, registration and swag companies that all work together in this endurance eco-system to help create the magic for you.As uncertain as that next chapter might be, the entire industry is working together to ensure, as Dave McGillivray of the Boston Marathon says, ‘The comeback is stronger than the setback.’
We hope you will join us. Keep the faith and keep on running on. And don’t forget to share your #StartLineImpact to December 31.
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