All participants in the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon and 8K on Oct. 10 will have to be double vaccinated before their sneakers are allowed to hit pavement in the event.
The requirement will also include volunteers and on-site personnel for the first live, in-person road race on the Island since March 2020.
“Athletics Canada has announced that they are requiring double vaccination for participants in the events that they are hosting,” said Victoria Marathon Society president Jonathan Foweraker. “It is out of an abundance of caution that we are implementing this requirement for the health and safety of everyone. We don’t want the race to be a super-spreader event.”
Runners must show their proof of vaccination, and one piece of government-issued photo identification, during the race package pick-up period Oct. 7-10 at the Crystal Gardens.
“We are excited to be able to offer in-person racing, and while we know this isn’t an ideal situation, we want to do our part to ensure that events like ours are able to be back to full capacity in 2022,” said GM and race director Cathy Noel.
Masks will be required at the start line, but once participants begin running, they can take them off. “It’s hard to space at these events at the start line. We want to make sure it’s safe as possible,” said Noel.
Medals will not be placed around the necks of runners after they cross the finish line, as normal, but will instead be handed to the participants.
The 3,073 berths for the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon are sold out with less than 200 spots remaining for the 8K race.
