RUN COURSE: The Run Course is now posted. We’re thrilled with how the Run Course has worked out; runners simply do sections 1, 2, 5, and 6 of the Bike Course to get approx 45kms of running per lap. Two laps gets them approx 90kms, and 3 1/2 laps gets them approx 100 miles.

There’s a very brief, very straight forward shortcut between the end of section 2 and the beginning of section 5 that the runners take to skip sections 3 and 4. In their final “half’ lap they do sections 1, 2, and 5 as normal but stop before doing section 6 (section 5 and 6 both end at the Duck Pond Start/Finish).

SLOW PACE TIMES: We’ve also added our “Slow Pace” times to the Race Bible These are projections of the slowest paces for each distance and discipline of the event based on previous years’ actual slowest paces on similar sections of course. They’ll be used to help calculate cut off times at CheckPoints throughout the race. Because we haven’t finalized CheckPoint locations yet we haven’t calculated the actual cut off times yet either but we hope that the ”Slow Pace” projections will help you determine what pace you need to maintain to make it through the event.

We project the slow pace and set these cut off times primarily to keep the event safe for everyone. Maintaining a pace at or above the slowest projections helps let us know that you’re doing okay out there and are capable of finishing the event safely. We reserve the right to remove from the event anyone who isn’t meeting cut off times but we try our very best not to have to do that. We want you to achieve your goal. For you and for us that’s what all this work is for and it’s the reward that makes this all worth while, but we want to keep you from harm and make sure that you can keep a decent, steady rate of progress throughout the event.

We’ve been waiting for confirmation on this and we now have it…our new Start/Finish location at the Duck Pond Shelter in the Assiniboine Park will be heated for the duration of our event. The garage-style doors you see in the pic above will be closed. The shelter has multiple washrooms, a small room that can used for changing, and even a couple of water stations. Added bonus: All of the goose poo you see on the paving stone should be gone in February 🙂

Although we’ll have another CheckPoint or two along the course this Duck Pond Shelter is the only spot that we can count on for heated shelter (or shelter of any kind for that matter). However, because both the bike and the run course pass through the Duck Pond Shelter twice per lap (part way through a full lap and also at the end of the lap), you do get at least one intermediate opportunity to briefly make use of a heated shelter every lap.

We officially opened registration a couple of days ago and have already signed up our first couple of racers for 2022! We’re looking forward to seeing more entries roll in soon.

We’re also super stoked to report that we have a new Start / Finish location for 2022.

We were surprised to be informed recently that The Forks site we had been in talks with to use again in 2022 was suddenly unavailable to us, but after a bit of scrambling The Assiniboine Park Duck Pond Shelter, near the Assiniboine Park’s main pavilion, has become our new Start / Finish location. The park Conservancy has graciously agreed to keep the shelter open for us overnight so we’ll have access to their washrooms (including a room that can be used for changing).

This is a park that many of us local riders and runners use frequently, and it was already beside our approved race route. There will be skaters on the adjacent ice pond, as well as walkers, tobogganers, and more making use of the area as we set out from, pass through, and finish at the location ourselves. The park is a real local treasure and a perfect setting for our event. We’re thrilled to be able to make use of it.

We’ve modified our Course Guide to reflect these changes, though for our cyclists the route itself barely changes at all; it’s mostly that the start/finish is relocated. We’ve also taken the opportunity to use the new location as a CheckPoint that we actually pass through in the middle of the course (because the course was already set to pass through the Assiniboine Park twice), so if you are doing 1 lap (70km) you’ll start and finish the race at the Duck Pond AND you’ll pass through the Duck Pond part way through the race as well. If you’re cycling for 2 or 3 laps you’ll pass through the Duck Pond 3 or 5 times respectively, in addition to the start and finish.

We’re working on modifying the run course and hope to have it posted soon. It will almost entirely use the cycling route already outlined in the Course Guide and pictured above but will use less of it, likely with a very short unique section that cuts the cycling route shorter to obtain our desired lengths.

Stay tuned for more info!

Approximately 95% of the planned route is on officially designated or dedicated City bike/run/multi-use routes, with around 85% on dedicated (ie. no cars allowed) routes. The remaining approximately 5% is on relatively quiet roads that help connect the dots.

Once we have approval and a few final legal things squared away we want to open registration ASAP, maybe even by the end of the week. Other sections will be updated around the same time, including the Course Guide.

Registration fees will remain the same this year as they were last year.

Stick with us folks; more detail is on the way, but for now you can see the routes below that we’ve submitted for approval. Ignore that some parts of the routes are green and others are red for the moment – the colours will be used as a part of the Course Guide coming soon.