For the first time ever, roads will be closed for the Comox Valley RV Half Marathon this Sunday.
The annual event is a half-marathon road-running race, where participants run 21.1 kilometers in the Comox Valley. It has been running for over 20 years.
This year has seen 1,100 registrations for the event, with a total of 850 runners expected on race day.
Race director Rob Kelly says it’s the largest number of registrations they’ve ever achieved.
“This is the first time the race has ever sold out,” said Kelly.
“For the organizing committee behind the race, it’s very rewarding we sold out. It’s exciting, and a little nervous, but it reflects a real increased interest in running across the world and across Canada. Running is having its third boom, and this turnout is reflective in that we are a popular race, but we’ve grown and record numbers are being achieved.”
Kelly says the other big change for this year is that during the race, some roads will be closed.
“We’ve always run our race with roads basically open and drivers being able to move through in a fairly normal way,” said Kelly.
“We are closing roads 100 percent, and they won’t be open for drivers for a set number of time while our event is on, and that’s due to the safety of the runners, volunteers, and drivers.”
The affected roads are Anderton Avenue between 5th street and the Condensory Bridge, both lanes for Condensory Bridge, and Condensory between the bridge and Piercy Avenue.
Kelly recommends drivers to try and avoid the areas entirely, try and find another way while on the road, and to be patient.
The race will see two starts, with the first for runners who’ll take 2 and a half-hour or longer, followed by the main start with most of the runners.
The course will see runners follow Anderton over the Condensory Bridge, go along Condensory, turn right to Piercy, left onto Dove Creek Road, follow that road until they cross Condensory and reach Burns, with a turn-around at the end of Burns seeing runners turn around and come back.
The free race starts at Florence Filberg Centre this Sunday, with the first race at 10:00 a.m., followed by the main event at 11:00 a.m. The run looks to wrap up between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
