The darkness will lift and daylight will shine again this morning on the Times Colonist 10K after two years of pandemic cancellations.
“It’s part of the healing process and return to normalcy,” said race manager Mark deFrias.
But it’s a slow rebuild, with the 9,000-plus entrants from the last race in 2019 down to about 6,000 who will take to the streets of the capital today.
That reduction in numbers also has hit the elite level as lingering effects of the pandemic have severely limited the number of participants from running hotbed nations such as Kenya and Ethiopia, who have dominated the front of the men’s pack in many previous editions of the Times Colonist 10K, a race now into its fourth decade.
“It’s wide open. It’s an opportunity for somebody,” said Ulla Hansen, the former Canadian international, and director of elite racers for the event.
Island past winners have included Olympians Angela Chalmers and Bruce Deacon. The back-to-back women’s champion in 2017 and 2018 was Dayna Pidhoresky of Tecumseh, Ont., with Malindi Elmore of Kelowna second in 2019. Pidhoresky and Elmore both represented Canada in the marathon last summer in the Tokyo Olympics.
The field isn’t as elite this year, which makes it a wider avenue to the $10,000 purse on offer today.
“I don’t think we’re going to see the course records broken,” said Hansen.
But that doesn’t mean other records won’t fall. Veteran international Jim Finlayson, the Canadian record holder in the over-45 class for 10K, has now set his sights on the national record for 50-plus and that will be his goal today. Finlayson, now also a coach including for two-time Olympian Cam Levins of Black Creek, will be pushed by veteran runner Nick Walker. Christine Bant, winner of the recent Island Race Series, is a favourite for the women’s race.
The 2022 Times Colonist 10K continues the return of live road racing, which began with the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon and 8K in October during the tentative days of the re-opening. That was followed by the six-event Island Race Series this spring.
“It’s about the return of human interaction and human connection in road racing after two years of having to run virtually,” said deFrias.
“But everybody has their own comfort level in getting back to a massed start line. We are learning to live with this and people’s comfort level will grow. I don’t see any reason why in a few years that we won’t be back to over 10,000 participants, as we were in the past, and to continue making this a part of a healthy lifestyle and also an economic driver for the community.”
The race begins at 8 a.m. in the Legislature precinct and heads north on Government to Wharf to east on Yates to south on Cook to east on Richardson and then south on Moss, east on May, south on Memorial, west on Dallas Road to Erie to Belleville before finishing back in front of the Legislature.
CHEK-TV will broadcast the race live from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
The Thrifty Foods 1.5K Family Kids’ Run around the Legislature begins at 11 a.m.
Various road closures will be in effect from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
