Anyone who has participated in the Vancouver Half Marathon, 21k de Montréal, lululemon Edmonton 10K, the Scarborough 5K or any of the other Canada Running Series races, understands the magic. Behind that community, is the true connector, one whose magic for putting on world-class events is unparalleled, but also hard to put your finger on. Rachel Munday, Executive Director of the Manitoba Marathon, got closest with: “Charlotte is a bit of a unicorn.” Peeking behind the curtain of Canada Running Series, we investigate the magic of National Event Director Charlotte Brookes.
As over 20,000 runners and walkers at the 2022 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon anxiously fidget in their corrals, Event Director Charlotte Brookes is waiting on a tractor trailer stuck on Lakeshore Boulevard. Her zone leader, Cory Freedman, an experienced race director heading Toronto Women’s Run Series, is shuffling the vehicle along and waiting to give Charlotte the all clear. What makes Charlotte special is that in this moment, she is with Cory at the same time as she is with those 20,000 athletes, at the same time as she is connected with her announcer who will start the race, at the same time as she is connected with the police forces supporting runners along their journey to 21.1 or 42.2km. Amidst the angst and anxiety, the wizard behind the curtain of the Canada Running Series Race Command Centre and all Canada Running Series events, Charlotte, remains calm, cool and collected, and connected.
Cory recounts this story as the clearest example of Charlotte’s magic, a testament to the fact that she has done it all in the running event industry. Charlotte worked her way up to operating a Race Command Centre (hidden away in a secret location, it is the communication hub for the race), but started by putting race bibs and safety pins together for her father, CRS founder Alan Brookes, at the ripe age of four. In the intervening years, Charlotte has worked help desk, registration, water stations, volunteer check-in, permit and government liaising and when the time calls for it, to this day, still unboxes 20,000 medals for events. Cory says, “It’s what the job takes to do, and she does it all. And that’s what makes her unique.”
Back at the race, when the roads were clear and Cory gave the go ahead, it was Charlotte connecting to everyone, giving them the green light. This wizard of the Canada Running Series Race Command Centre is not the charlatan of Oz, but instead just Charlotte, who has the brains, courage and most importantly the heart to ensure that each of those 20,000 athletes, 3,000 volunteers, each of her 15 Canada Running Series employees—and each of the nearly 100,000 spectators—has a joyous, memorable event.
What people don’t realize is the amount of work that goes on by Charlotte behind the scenes and that proverbial wizard’s curtain. After the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic waned and rumblings began about races returning in Canada, it was Charlotte and her fellow race directors connecting on Zooms, figuring out the safe return to racing. According to Athletics Ontario’s Sheryl Preston, Charlotte was invaluable in her insights and leadership. Sheryl is blown away by Charlotte’s passion. “She gets the running community, she gets how important the running community is. She is a hero to me.”
There it is again, that heart. It was also in these moments that Charlotte’s thoughtfulness and ability to connect thrived. Even though some of the challenges brought on by COVID subsided, this culture of sharing and connection between running race directors—led by Charlotte and the Canada Running Series—continues. “The key to Charlotte’s ‘success’ is that she has this very special gift of being able to build teams on many levels and she is open, inclusive and supportive,” continues Cory. “She wants everyone to be the best they can be, to produce the best race they can, to provide the best experience to all runners, regardless of if she owns the events or not. It only strengthens running as a whole.”
Dione Mason, Race Director and Founder of the Toronto Carnival Run, agrees. “Years ago when I approached Charlotte to learn more about the running industry I came away with so much more than logistical management tips, but a keen understanding of the strength of ‘we,’ and the positive impact we can make in people’s lives. This is a reason why CRS continues to be so successful, not just as an running event planning company, but leaving a legacy to improve our humanity.”
This is where the mystery and magic lie: in how Charlotte is able to spread joy amongst the running community. How does the wizard do her good work? Charlotte’s mother tells the story of a 10-year-old Charlotte captaining the help desk at the Spring Run Off and as she was heading to the start line, she stopped to say hi to her daughter. Watching Charlotte navigate this long line of new registrants, she reflected, “They came up, told her what their problem was and she fixed it and she just kept going. She never got startled—and she was just ten years old!”
A key component of the 2022-24 resurgence in running across Canada is the quality of races executed by Charlotte Brookes. In the words of Kirsten Fleming, Executive Director of the Calgary Marathon: “The running industry is stronger because of her.”
And while Canada Running Series operates 11 races across Canada in 2024, many of which sell out by race start, Charlotte continues to be involved in many, many more as a race director, as a resource, as a connection. Some of these include the hardest moments faced by race directors across Canada. Rachel Munday spoke about the difficult 2022 race when they had to halt the Manitoba Marathon part way through due to extreme heat and humidity. Leading into the race and making preparation plans, during the execution of the race and in the follow-up communications, Rachel received support from Charlotte. Both Cory and Kirsten Fleming of the Calgary Marathon also detailed the number of hours put in by Charlotte, spending time at other international running events to learn and supporting existing races—theirs included—to ensure the safety and joy of their participants. If you ask Kirsten to sum it up, the magic of Charlotte (“one of the most generous humans I have met”) is her “humble wisdom,” her openness and collaborative culture and that “nothing is left behind the curtain.”
Truly Canadian from coast to coast, Charlotte has spent time in the Maritimes with the Blue Nose Marathon. Perhaps the humility and kindness come from her Maritime connections, as this is where the Brookes clan hails? Regardless, according to Blue Nose Marathon Executive Director Sherri Robbins, the maritimes is another example of where Charlotte’s magic shines: “Jumping right in and helping wherever is needed, problem solving, tearing down a site, working in the rain, Charlotte is not above getting her hands dirty,” she says. “My staff raved about her for days.”
Does this come from her time in the sport, growing up with her father in the running industry? Does it come from experiencing every aspect of race management, learning how to navigate the chaos that is inevitably going to come? Does this come from her post-secondary learning in Human Resources, as evidenced by her retention of clients and the Canada Running Series personnel?
Does this come from her brains, her courage, her heart?
Or does it come from a combination of these and more? That magical quality that cannot be clearly articulated by all those participants, spectators, race directors, sponsors, race organizations, employees, this magazine article writer, and other race directors, but is felt at every event that involves Canada Running Series. Reflecting on the qualities that have made her a pillar in the Canadian running industry, Charlotte says, “The people part is a big thing for me, relationships and just having authentic connections is what drives me in what I do. Just that empathy or being able to work with people positively. That’s something that’s always been who I am as a person and that’s translated and grown through the events.”
That is the magic of Charlotte Brookes, the wizard of joy, evidenced in her words and actions: connecting, and heart.
