by Paul Gains

International and domestic road racing schedules have been decimated by the global pandemic leaving athletes scrambling to find competition. In response, Athletics Canada has now partnered with the Canada Running Series to produce the Athletics Canada 42.2km Relay Challenge.

This extraordinary ‘virtual’ initiative will provide a competitive target for athletes in a fun-filled atmosphere over the weekend of October 17-18th which, under normal circumstances, would be the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon race weekend. The race was also slated to be the 2020 Athletics Canada National Marathon Championship.

Teams consisting of four elite athletes - in male, female and mixed (2+2) categories - will compete for fun prizes and for the opportunity to put to use the training they have completed despite the uncertainty in the racing calendar. Prizing includes Athletics Canada national team merchandise gift certificates, Flying Monkeys beer, branded souvenir beer mugs, nuun hydration gift packs and more. Everyone who participates will also earn unique finishers’ medals – 4 different aspects of the iconic Toronto Old City Hall Clock Tower that stands at the Waterfront Marathon finish line, which then fit together.

Each athlete will have the opportunity to run their chosen distance, a minimum of 5km, with the four legs totaling 42.2km. They can choose a convenient time during the weekend to run and will then confirm their time and distance by uploading and submitting a screen shot from their GPS log (Strava, Garmin, MapMyRun etc) to Race Roster. Moreover, they need not be in the same city as one another.

Though it doesn’t replace an actual marathon competition it may be just what is needed during these challenging times.

For Athletics Canada’s Chief Operating Officer, Mat Gentes, the opportunity to continue a working relationship with Canada Running Series while providing runners with an outlet was compelling.

“There are still athletes putting the time in not knowing when they get to race or compete,” says Gentes. “As opposed to outright canceling and having nothing, which we could have easily done, we thought we would put something together that is fun and that is something that can put their training to use.

“There will be a bit of a strategy involved. You can break up that 42k however you want between you and your teammates. We have visions of some ‘dream teams’ being put together. I hope it is fun and provides social media fodder.”

Canada Running Series President, Alan Brookes, welcomes the Athletics Canada 42.2km Challenge as another opportunity for his fifteen strong team of professional event managers to adapt to the changed landscape caused by the pandemic.

“Our mission for thirty years has been building community through running which includes fitness, lifestyle, social runners as one group, charity runners, and also high performance and competitive runners,” Brookes declares with pride.

“We need to keep our community whole. I think this collaboration with Athletics Canada is going to provide motivation and incentive and a fun thing too that will keep us going.”

Brookes notes that over the years the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has provided Olympians such as Lanni Marchant, Krista DuChene, Natasha Wodak, Reid Coolsaet, Eric Gillis, Dylan Wykes and Cam Levins a platform on which to compete against the world’s best on home soil. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of runners have raised more than $42 million for local charities in the Scotiabank Charity Challenge.

Gentes views the relay challenge as a successful initiative at a critical point in these challenging times.

“We are not going to replace any of the events that have been cancelled, not even close!” He declares. “As Alan knows very well there’s the excitement, the financial revenues, and all the partners being happy, you are not going to achieve that with a virtual race.

“When I talked with Alan and his crew we wanted just to come up with something that is fun for the athletes to participate in.”

While the Athletics Canada Invitational Relay Challenge will attract some of Canada’s elite distance runners the event is by no mean restricted to elites. Anyone may assemble a team and join the Open 4-person marathon relay by registering on the STWM.ca website. The cost is CAD$135.

Each participant receives a souvenir t-shirt, a unique medal, discounts from Running Room and more.

Now the quest to form competitive racing relay teams begins in earnest.

http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/virtual-race/