30th anniversary of Melissa’s Road Race sold out
Posted By Shawn Slaght
Posted 11 months ago
Banff Crag & Canyon file photo. Phil Ray makes his way over the bridge by the Banff Springs golf course during last year's Melissa's Road Race half marathon.
Matthew Timmins |
|
By Shawn Slaght
shawn@thecrag.ca
The 30th annual running of Melissa’s Road Race will be taking place on Saturday, Sept. 26, in Banff.
The race is capped to 4,500 runners. Registration for the event went up on Feb. 20 and it was sold out in three hours and three minutes.
“We are thrilled that over the years we have been able to continue to grow this event as far as popularity goes,” said race organizer Deb Boutilier.
Over 300 volunteers give up their time as well to help out with this event.
“They are the backbone of the event,” said Boutilier. “Without them we wouldn’t be able to put on what we do.”
New this year will be “drop zones” for clothing put up by Rip ’n Race. This will allow runners to shed layers of clothing before and during the race to keep warm.
“The runners can pre-register with them or register at the event,” said Boutilier. “They get a number that goes on their layers and they drop it off at certain points that the company provides. It is all back hanging up fresh for them at the end of the event.”
Since 1991, the Road Race has raised $65,500 for charities such as the Daycare Society of Banff, the Banff Community Foundation, the Banff Kindergarten Program, the 6th Grade Program at the Banff Elementary School and the Banff YWCA Safe House Campaign.
“We are providing our donation once again this year to the Banff Community Foundation,” said Boutilier. “Which is the fourth year in a row that we have made them our recipient.”
The 10 kilometre race will begin at Sundance Road at 10:10 a.m. The course, however, has been slightly changed from last year.
Runners will take a left on Cave Avenue. They will head to the Banff Avenue intersection where they will make another left over the Bow River Bridge on to Banff Avenue. There will be entertainment along the route at the Banff Legion.
Participants will turn right on to Wolf Street and make a right hand turn at St. Julien Road, where the runners will find an one-man band for more entertainment along the route. They will run around the Banff Centre to Buffalo Street before making a left at Muskrat Street on to the footpath.
The new section of the track this year will have the runners take the footpath under the bridge and continue along the path to the canoe docks.
“That is a little bit of a new venue for them,” said Boutilier.
Runners will turn left at the canoe docks on to Bow Avenue before making a left on Buffalo Street and back to Banff Avenue.
Once they are back on Banff Avenue, the runners will turn on to the sidewalk and use it to return to Cave Avenue. They will loop around the Cave and Basin parking lot and use the Cave Avenue footpath to head back to Sundance Road.
The 22-kilometre race will begin at Sundance Road as soon as the last 10K runner has left the starting area.
The race will head down Cave Avenue, taking a left to go under the bridge on Glenn Avenue. Runners will head down Glenn Avenue, past Bow Falls and over the golf course bridge.
They will run around the golf course loop where there will be entertainment on the route and back down Glenn Avenue, under the bridge, back on to Cave Avenue to the Cave and Basin. The runners will head down the Sundance Trail to the 22K turnaround point and return to the recreation grounds.
There will be more entertainment and prizes to give away at the recreation grounds after the race is finished.
This year, due to time restraints, walkers will no longer be able to compete. Baby joggers, strollers, burleys and pets will not be allowed on the racecourse for safety concerns.
Topic guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.
Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers.
